Sweden’s competitive advantages include its infrastructure and increased efficiency in government and business, according to the Dagens Industri (DI) newspaper.
Denmark is ahead of Sweden in IMD’s World Competitiveness Scoreboard, taking sixth place, slightly worse than the previous year. Norway climbed from 13th to 11th place, and Finland improved to 15th place, up from 17th last year.
The United States remains number one, followed by Singapore and Hong Kong.
IMD warns that the US risks dropping back in the ranking in the same way that Japan did 20 years ago.
In 1989, Japan was seen as the most competitive country in the world. Today, it’s not even in the top twenty.
“Japan’s crisis is reminiscent of the current concern in the US. It came after a period marked by a booming economy and inflated prices in the real estate market,” writes IMD’s Stéphane Garelli.
Also moving up in this year’s top ten are Switzerland, from sixth to fourth place; Australia from twelfth to seventh place; and Canada from tenth to eighth place.
The IMD ranking is calculated using four factors which influence a country’s competitiveness: Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business Efficiency and Infrastructure.