Taiwan moved up five spots to 11th in the latest World Competitiveness Yearbook published June 16 by Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development, hitting its highest spot in the annual report since 2016.
In the survey of 63 major economies, Taiwan placed third in the Asia-Pacific region ahead of Australia, 18th; China, 20th; New Zealand, 22nd; South Korea, 23rd; and Malaysia, 27th. The country trailed behind Singapore, first; and Hong Kong, fifth.
Singapore remained at the top of this year’s survey, followed by Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Hong Kong, in that order.
Among the report’s four main categories, Taiwan rose four places to 15th for infrastructure due to strengthening basic, technological and scientific infrastructure as well as health and environment. According to the study, the country has the highest number of mobile broadband subscribers and second-highest total R&D personnel per capita and added values for medium- and high-tech industries.
Taiwan also climbed three spots to ninth in government efficiency. The country registered improvements in all five subcategories of business legislation, institutional framework, public finance, societal framework and tax policy.
In business efficiency, Taiwan moved up two positions to 12th, which can be attributed to the country’s advancing productivity and efficiency, labor market and attitudes and values. While the nation fell two spots to 17th in economic performance, it jumped 15 places to 10th in the subcategory of domestic economy.
First launched in 1989, the yearbook assesses economies across 255 indicators in the four main categories of business efficiency, economic performance, government efficiency and infrastructure. (YCH-E)
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