The USA has surrendered its status as the world's most competitive economy after being overtaken by China Hong Kong and Switzerland, according to the IMD World Competitiveness Center. The 2016 edition ranks China Hong Kong first, Switzerland second and the USA third, with Singapore, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Canada completing the top 10. The study reveals some of the most impressive strides in Europe have been made by countries in the East, chief among them Latvia, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The Czech Republic ranks 27th, moving up two places, compared with 2015.

“One important fact that the ranking makes clear year after year is that current economic growth is by no means a guarantee of future competitiveness," says Professor Arturo Bris, Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center. View complete press release here.

The Scoreboard is available here and country profile for the Czech Republic can be viewed here. The Czech Republic achieved the best results so far, ending up 20th in the category Economic Performance, 26th in the category Infrastructure, 29th in the category Government Efficiency and 30th in the category Business Efficiency. The country scored best in the areas of Prices, International Trade, Basic Infrastructure and Productivity & Efficiency, for example.

Access IMD online database with 20-year time series on competitiveness for 61 countries, including the Czech Republic.