World Economic Forum (WEF) which is based in Geneva, Switzerland recently release “The Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014”. 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 ranked the 24th most competitive nation among 148 countries up 1 spot from 25th out of 144 countries in 2012. Malaysia remained the second most competitive among Asean and has improved to seventh position among 25 Asia-Pacific countries.
The table below is top 25 of the ranking.
| Country | Rank 2013 | Score (2013) | Rank 2012 | Score (2012) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 1 | 5.67 | 1 | 5.72 |
| Singapore | 2 | 5.61 | 2 | 5.67 |
| Finland | 3 | 5.54 | 3 | 5.55 |
| Germany | 4 | 5.51 | 6 | 5.48 |
| United States | 5 | 5.48 | 7 | 5.47 |
| Sweden | 6 | 5.48 | 4 | 5.53 |
| Hong Kong | 7 | 5.47 | 9 | 5.41 |
| Netherlands | 8 | 5.42 | 5 | 5.50 |
| Japan | 9 | 5.40 | 10 | 5.40 |
| United Kingdom | 10 | 5.37 | 8 | 5.45 |
| Norway | 11 | 5.33 | 15 | 5.27 |
| Taiwan | 12 | 5.29 | 13 | 5.28 |
| Qatar | 13 | 5.24 | 11 | 5.38 |
| Canada | 14 | 5.20 | 14 | 5.27 |
| Denmark | 15 | 5.18 | 12 | 5.29 |
| Austria | 16 | 5.15 | 16 | 5.22 |
| Belgium | 17 | 5.13 | 17 | 5.21 |
| New Zealand | 18 | 5.11 | 23 | 5.09 |
| United Arab Emirates | 19 | 5.11 | 24 | 5.07 |
| Saudi Arabia | 20 | 5.10 | 18 | 5.19 |
| Australia | 21 | 5.09 | 20 | 5.12 |
| Luxembourg | 22 | 5.09 | 22 | 5.09 |
| France | 23 | 5.05 | 21 | 5.11 |
| Malaysia | 24 | 5.03 | 25 | 5.06 |
| South Korea | 25 | 5.01 | 19 | 5.12 |
Full report can be found at WEF webpage.