Data from the 2022 IMD World Talent Ranking (WTR) shows that Switzerland remains the leader among 63 economies in attracting and retaining talent for the sixth consecutive year. It is followed by Sweden, Iceland, Norway, then Denmark. Since 2018, Iceland has leapt from 16th to third.
The main overall observation? Global economies are reassessing the balance they make when cultivating domestic and international talent, in a bid to compensate for skilled labor losses as a result of travel constraints and lockdowns during the pandemic.
Pre- and post-pandemic patterns with respect to brain drain have not been as damaging to the talent competitiveness of those countries that have strengthened their appeal.
An economy’s appeal to skilled labor was measured via factors including but not limited to remuneration, taxes, cost of living, and the education system, as well as the economy’s position on environmental issues and a fair judicial system.
IMD's World Competitiveness Center takes a three-pronged approach to measuring talent in economies:
The 2022 WTR studied 63 economies by quantifying 31 criteria (a mixture of hard data and survey responses from executives) in order to assesses these countries’ ripeness for fostering long-term value creation for their enterprises and the economy at large, via their workforce. Each criterion was then organized into one of the three factors above.
“In the future, national education systems will become less important to determine the quality of the talent pool. This is the result of talent globalization, but also of countries borrowing successful educational policies from others and the resulting race to the top in education. Indirectly, quality of life and economic sustainability will indeed determine the quality of the talent pool as well. There will be winners and losers,” said Professor Arturo Bris, Director of the WCC.
| 2022 | Country | 2021 | Ranking Change | |
| 1 | Switzerland | 1 | - | - |
| 2 | Sweden | 2 | - | - |
| 3 | Iceland | 7 | +4 | ↑ |
| 4 | Norway | 4 | - | - |
| 5 | Denmark | 5 | - | - |
| 6 | Finland | 8 | +2 | ↑ |
| 7 | Luxembourg | 3 | -4 | ↓ |
| 8 | Austria | 6 | -2 | ↓ |
| 9 | Netherlands | 9 | - | - |
| 10 | Germany | 10 | - | - |
| 11 | Canada | 15 | +4 | ↑ |
| 12 | Singapore | 12 | - | - |
| 13 | Belgium | 13 | - | - |
| 14 | Hong Kong SAR | 11 | -3 | ↓ |
| 15 | Ireland | 17 | +2 | ↑ |
| 16 | USA | 14 | -2 | ↓ |
| 17 | Estonia | 19 | +2 | ↑ |
| 18 | Australia | 20 | +2 | ↑ |
| 19 | Taiwan, China | 16 | -3 | ↓ |
| 20 | Israel | 22 | +2 | ↑ |
| 21 | UAE | 23 | +2 | ↑ |
| 22 | Cyprus | 24 | +2 | ↑ |
| 23 | France | 25 | +2 | ↑ |
| 24 | Portugal | 26 | +2 | ↑ |
| 25 | Slovenia | 27 | +2 | ↑ |
| 26 | Lithuania | 29 | +3 | ↑ |
| 27 | Latvia | 30 | +3 | ↑ |
| 28 | United Kingdom | 21 | -7 | ↓ |
| 29 | Czech Republic | 37 | +8 | ↑ |
| 30 | Saudi Arabia | 38 | +8 | ↑ |
| 31 | New Zealand | 18 | -13 | ↓ |
| 32 | Spain | 32 | - | - |
| 33 | Malaysia | 28 | -5 | ↓ |
| 34 | Qatar | 31 | -3 | ↓ |
| 35 | Bahrain | new | new | new |
| 36 | Italy | 35 | -1 | ↓ |
| 37 | Greece | 33 | -4 | ↓ |
| 38 | Korea Rep. | 34 | -4 | ↓ |
| 39 | Kazakhstan | 41 | +2 | ↑ |
| 40 | China | 36 | -4 | ↓ |
| 41 | Japan | 39 | -2 | ↓ |
| 42 | Croatia | 49 | +7 | ↑ |
| 43 | Botswana | 44 | +1 | ↑ |
| 44 | Hungary | 42 | -2 | ↓ |
| 45 | Thailand | 43 | -2 | ↓ |
| 46 | Peru | 62 | +16 | ↑ |
| 47 | Chile | 48 | +1 | ↑ |
| 48 | Slovak Republic | 52 | +4 | ↑ |
| 49 | Jordan | 40 | -9 | ↓ |
| 50 | Poland | 45 | -5 | ↓ |
| 51 | Indonesia | 50 | -1 | ↓ |
| 52 | India | 56 | +4 | ↑ |
| 53 | Turkey | 53 | - | - |
| 54 | Philippines | 57 | +3 | ↑ |
| 55 | Romania | 51 | -4 | ↓ |
| 56 | Argentina | 54 | -2 | ↓ |
| 57 | Brazil | 60 | +3 | ↑ |
| 58 | Mexico | 59 | +1 | ↑ |
| 59 | Bulgaria | 58 | -1 | ↓ |
| 60 | South Africa | 63 | +3 | ↑ |
| 61 | Colombia | 55 | -6 | ↓ |
| 62 | Mongolia | 61 | -1 | ↓ |
| 63 | Venezuela | 64 | +1 | ↑ |
The investment in and development of home-grown talent
The extent to which a country taps into the overseas talent pool
The availability of skills and competencies in the talent pool
IMD has celebrated the release of its 2022 World Digital Competitiveness Ranking by hosting the 2022 Digital Competitiveness Summit, co-organized by digitalswitzerland and the École polytechnique fédé…
Denmark has reached the number one spot in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking (WCR) for the first time in the ranking’s 34-year history.
“Denmark has played extremely aggressively on the sustainability…
Workers today are increasingly motivated by high quality of life, flexible working, and opportunities to train on the job, whereas previously, remuneration was the driving force behind their desire to stick at their jobs…
The third edition of the annual IMD-SUTD Smart City Index (SCI)released today has revealed that city-dwellers’ perceptions of how technology is helping to address urban challenges has been highly affected by the…
Thailand needs to attract digital talent and invest more in education for it to boost its competitiveness in the current economic climate. That is the key message that came out of a recent IMD webinar, organized in…
