Israel in the 20th place among 61 nations in the 2006 world competitiveness rankings. Israel has risen 22 places in the rankings from 42nd in 2005
A new study conducted by the IMD institute in Switzerland that examines nations' performance based on productivity, government, businesses and infrastructure, ranked Israel in the 20th place among 61 nations in the 2006 world competitiveness rankings. Israel has risen 22 places in the rankings from 42nd in 2005.
The World Competitiveness Yearbook is published by Switzerland’s IMD - International Institute for Management Development, one of the world’s leading business schools. The yearbook ranks 61 countries according to 312 categories collected from various economic institutes worldwide. Its source for Israel is the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce ( FICC ). The latter derived the data concerning Israel from statistics published by the national Central Bureau of Statistics.
In the general rankings, which include government, bureaucracy, infrastructure and business sector activity, Israel is ranked 25th.
Israel is also ranked in first place in research and development investments as a percentage of its GDP and in public expenditure on education in proportion to GDP. The survey also reveals that in terms of skilled professionals, Israel's rank also improved from tenth to fourth place. Israel is also ranked first in public spending on education as a percentage of GDP, up from third place in 2005.
Israel received an especially low ranking in the categories of participation in the labor force and corporate taxation. Israel was ranked in 56th place in the participation in the labor force category, the same as in 2005, and in 55th place in the corporate taxation category, also the same as last year.
The US tops the list, followed by Hong Kong, Singapore, Iceland, and Denmark. Last placed countries are Romania, Poland, Croatia, Indonesia, and Venezuela.
Uriel Lynn, president of the FICC said in response to the IMD's World Competitiveness Yearbook: " Israel's main economic goal should be reaching a GDP per capita that equals the European's of USD 27,000. The social goal is more jobs, more employees, and less dependence on subsidies. The social-economic target is to increase the percentage of the population in the work force and strengthening the low income population."
