World Economic Forum (WEF) which is based in Geneva, Switzerland recently release “The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013”. The ranking is based on 12 pillars to measure the competitiveness for each countries.
The pillars are Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic environment, Health and primary education, Higher education and training, Goods market efficiency, Labor market efficiency, Financial market development, Technological readiness, Market size, Business sophistication & Innovation.
In the report, Malaysia at number 25th from 142 countries, down 4 position from 21st in 2011. Korea, Luxembourg, UAE and New Zealand overtook Malaysia this time round although Malaysia’s scores slipped marginally compared to the previous report. In 2010, report Malaysia is at number 26th with score 4.88.
The table below is top 25 of the ranking.
| Country | Rank 2012 | Score (2012) | Rank 2011 | Score (2011) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 1 | 5.72 | 1 | 5.74 |
| Singapore | 2 | 5.67 | 2 | 5.63 |
| Finland | 3 | 5.55 | 4 | 5.47 |
| Sweden | 4 | 5.53 | 3 | 5.61 |
| Netherlands | 5 | 5.50 | 7 | 5.41 |
| Germany | 6 | 5.48 | 6 | 5.41 |
| United States | 7 | 5.47 | 5 | 5.43 |
| United Kingdom | 8 | 5.45 | 10 | 5.39 |
| Hong Kong | 9 | 5.41 | 11 | 5.36 |
| Japan | 10 | 5.40 | 9 | 5.40 |
| Qatar | 11 | 5.38 | 14 | 5.24 |
| Denmark | 12 | 5.29 | 8 | 5.40 |
| Taiwan | 13 | 5.28 | 13 | 5.26 |
| Canada | 14 | 5.27 | 12 | 5.33 |
| Norway | 15 | 5.27 | 16 | 5.18 |
| Austria | 16 | 5.22 | 19 | 5.14 |
| Belgium | 17 | 5.21 | 15 | 5.20 |
| Saudi Arabia | 18 | 5.19 | 17 | 5.17 |
| South Korea | 19 | 5.12 | 24 | 5.02 |
| Australia | 20 | 5.12 | 20 | 5.11 |
| France | 21 | 5.11 | 18 | 5.14 |
| Luxembourg | 22 | 5.09 | 23 | 5.03 |
| New Zealand | 23 | 5.09 | 25 | 4.93 |
| United Arab Emirates | 24 | 5.07 | 27 | 4.89 |
| Malaysia | 25 | 5.06 | 21 | 5.08 |
Full report can be found at WEF webpage.