Ireland surges to second in latest World Competitiveness Rankings

The country ranked first in economic performance, third in government efficiency, third in business efficiency, and 19th in infrastructure

Ireland jumped over countries such as Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Singapore to take second place. 

Ireland has jumped nine places in the latest World Competitiveness Rankings to second, trailing behind only Denmark.

The rankings are conducted by the International Institute for Management Development’s World Competitiveness Center (WCC) and are based on 336 criteria. It ranks 64 economies around the world.

According to the latest rankings, published on Tuesday, Denmark retained the top spot from last year, with Ireland moving from 11th to second. Ireland toppled Switzerland, which dropped from second to third.

Singapore came fourth, the Netherlands was ranked fifth while Taiwan was ranked sixth. Hong Kong and Sweden had been in the top five in 2022 but slipped in this year’s rankings to seventh and eight respectively.

The US moved up one space to ninth, with the United Arab Emirates taking the 10th spot after moving up from 12th.

The WCC said countries on the top of the list each have a unique approach to becoming competitive.

The overall rankings are based on four graded factors. Ireland ranked first in economic performance, third in government efficiency, third in business efficiency, and 19th in infrastructure.

The WCC said Denmark’s top spot is based on its continuous achievements across all four competitiveness factors measured.

'Multiple crises'

Professor Arturo Bris, director of the WCC, said it was seeing winners and losers in the context of “multiple crises” overlapping and the world becoming “increasingly divided between protectionist and open-trade economies”.

While Ireland had a good result in these latest rankings, the UK lost ground, dropping six places to 29th.

Its economic performance ranking took a high hit, dropping from 23 to 35. Its government efficiency ranking dropped two places to 28th, its business efficiency ranking dropped from 28th to 34th, while on infrastructure, it dropped four places to 22.

WCC chief economist Christos Cabolis cited Ireland, Iceland, and Bahrain, as countries that have excelled at building resilient economies while “navigating today’s unpredictable environment”. 

“Their governments are also able to adapt policies based on current economic conditions in a timely fashion,” it said.

Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney welcomed Ireland’s result in the rankings, which comes despite ongoing geopolitical tension, inflation and other challenging issues.

“Our ranking in the areas of Government and business efficiency reflect the strength of Irish institutions which create a stable environment for enterprise to operate,” he said.