People walk on the street in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Oct 11, 2022. (PHOTO / AFP)

GENEVA - Denmark, Ireland and Switzerland are the top three most competitive nations among 64 economies measured, according to a new report released by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) on Tuesday.

Published by the IMD's World Competitiveness Center (WCC), the 2023 IMD World Competitiveness Ranking (WCR) is the 35th edition of the annual ranking against the backdrop of a complex interplay of inflation, geopolitical risks and political fragmentation.

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The new ranking showed that Denmark retained the top position, while Ireland rose sharply from 11th to second because of its stellar performance in economic performance, and Switzerland held its nerve in third, after dropping from second place in 2022 and first place in 2021.

For China, which came in the 21st, the report showed that the main attractiveness indicators of the economy in 2023 include the dynamism of the economy, a skilled workforce, reliable infrastructure, cost competitiveness, and policy stability and predictability

The overall competitiveness of the world economy has dropped over the last five years, driven primarily by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Arturo Bris, professor of finance and director of the WCC, told Xinhua via video. "These are also going to be the top challenges going forward."

"The top three countries are the smaller, European countries ... but these three countries have access to a large economic region," Bris noted, adding that they have very good institutional development, education and healthcare.

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The WCC collaborated with 57 local institutes to assess the 64 economies via a mixture of hard data and 92 survey questions answered by 6,400 senior executives.

For China, which came in the 21st, the report showed that the main attractiveness indicators of the economy in 2023 include the dynamism of the economy, a skilled workforce, reliable infrastructure, cost competitiveness, and policy stability and predictability.

Other major world economies such as the United States took the 9th place, Germany 22nd, the United Kingdom 29th, and Japan 35th, the report showed.

Meanwhile, Indonesia experienced the largest increase to 34th (from 44th), driven by robust business efficiency.

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Latvia, however, saw the largest drop to 51st (from 35th) due to a worsening performance in government and business efficiency caused by record high inflation in 2022.

Risks of a global economic recession, inflationary pressures, and geopolitical conflicts outweigh concerns about environmental issues, the report added.