Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index

The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index

Sustainable Competitiveness Index World Map 2022

The Global Sustainability World Map 2022

GSCI: Measuring Competitiveness beyond GDP

Published since 2012, the Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index (GSCI) is the most comprehensive ranking of countries currently available. The GSCI measures competitiveness of countries based on 189 measurable, quantitative indicators derived from reliable sources, such as the World Bank, the IMF, and various UN agencies. The 189 indicators are grouped into 6 sub-indexes: Natural Capital, Resource Efficiency & Intensity, Social Cohesion, Intellectual Capital, Economic Sustainability , and Governance Efficiency.

The Sustainable Competitiveness Model:

Intellectual Capital & Inovation: the capability to generate wealth and jobs through innovation and value-added industries in the globalised markets
Economic Sustainability: Economic Sustainability & Competitiveness reflects the ability to generate wealth through sustainable economic development
Governance Efficiency: Results of core state areas and investments – infrastructure, market and employment structure, the provision of a framework for sustained and sustainable wealth generation

Natural Capital: the given natural environment, including the availability of resources, and the level of the depletion of those resources.
Resource Efficiency & Intensity: the efficiency of using available resources as a measurement of operational competitiveness in a resource-constraint World.
Social Capital: health, security, freedom, equality and life satisfaction within a country.

Quick Links

Report/Data Download

Download the report: Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index 2022(PDF)
Download the data: GSCI_Scores_2022(XLSX)

ESG Country Credit Ratings

Achieving Sustainable Competitiveness: policies for more sustainable AND more prosperous societies: Sustainable. Competitive.

State of The World 2022:

Global Sustainability Scores

The average sustainable competitiveness score is 44.1, less than 50% of the possible best score. The higest score is 60.7, achieved by Sweden: Even the leading nations are far from being truly sustainable & competitive.

Global Average

Global Best

Ideal World

Global Development Trends

Improving Development

Deteriorating Development

Neutral

A somewhat alarming 40% of all indicators are deteriorating, while50% show positive developments. We are going forward and backwards at the same time.

Highlights and key take-aways from the GSCI 2022

Scandinavia continues to top the ranking: Sweden is leading the Sustainable Competitiveness Index, followed by all other Scandinavian nations. Only Switzerland on 3rd is breaking in.
Only two countries in the Top 20 are not European: – Japan on 10, and South Korea (12).
The USA is ranked 30, ranking particularly low in resource efficiency and social capital – reflecting the nation’s current problem areas
China is ranked 31 – very strong in Intellectual Capital, but low on Natural Capital and in Rsource Efficiency
The UK ranks 7, Germany 15, France
Brazil is ranked 46, India 120, and Nigeria (Africa’s most populated country), 126.
Some of the least developed nations have a considerable higher GSCI ranking than their GDP would suggest (e.g. Nepal, Buthan, Bolivia, Suriname, …)
Asian nations (South Korea, China, Japan) lead the Intellectual Capital Index – the basis of innovation. However, achieving sustained prosperity is potentially compromised by Natural Capital constraints and increasing resource consumption.
The Social Capital Index ranking is headed by Northern European (Scandinavian) countries, the result of economic growth combined with a widely accepted social consensus.

Download the The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index 2022 (PDF, 80 pages)

2022 Global Sustainability Rankings

Rank	Country	Score
1	Sweden	60.7
2	Finland	59.3
3	Switzerland	58.3
4	Denmark	58.1
5	Norway	57.6
6	Iceland	57.1
7	United Kingdom	56.4
8	France	56.3
9	Slovenia	56.3
10	Japan	56.2
11	Austria	55.9
12	South Korea	55.9
13	Ireland	55.6
14	Latvia	55.4
15	Portugal	54.8
16	Germany	54.8
17	Estonia	54.5
18	Lithuania	54.2
19	Netherlands	53.9
20	Croatia	53.4
21	Luxembourg	53.3
22	Italy	52.8
23	Slovakia	52.7
24	Canada	52.5
25	Czech Republic	52.4
26	New Zealand	52.3
27	Belgium	51.7
28	Spain	51.7
29	Poland	51.2
30	USA	51.2
31	China	51.1
32	Australia	50.6
33	Uruguay	50.6
34	Costa Rica	49.9
35	Greenland	49.9
36	Romania	49.4
37	Israel	49.3
38	Greece	49.0
39	Malta	48.5
40	Singapore	48.5
41	Peru	47.8
42	Hungary	47.7
43	Albania	47.7
44	Chile	47.3
45	Bulgaria	47.2
46	Brazil	47.1
47	Panama	47.0
48	Argentina	46.9
49	Ukraine	46.9
50	Colombia	46.6
51	Serbia	46.4
52	Belarus	46.3
53	Fiji	46.2
54	Cyprus	46.1
55	Solomon Islands	45.9
56	Timor-Leste	45.7
57	Indonesia	45.7
58	Paraguay	45.5
59	Turkey	45.1
60	Ecuador	45.1

Rank	Country	Score
61	Moldova	45.0
62	Montenegro	45.0
63	Bosnia and Herzegovina	44.8
64	Thailand	44.7
65	Georgia	44.5
66	Tonga	44.5
67	Mauritius	44.4
68	Vietnam	44.2
69	Kyrgistan	44.0
70	North Macedonia	44.0
71	Bolivia	43.8
72	Nepal	43.6
73	Kazakhstan	43.5
74	Kiribati	43.5
75	Malaysia	43.1
76	Bhutan	43.1
77	United Arab Emirates	43.1
78	Armenia	43.1
79	Mongolia	43.1
80	Burma	42.9
81	El Salvador	42.8
82	Sao Tome and Principe	42.7
83	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	42.6
84	Vanuatu	42.0
85	Belize	41.9
86	Philippines	41.9
87	Guyana	41.8
88	Cuba	41.8
89	Suriname	41.8
90	Samoa	41.7
91	Uzbekistan	41.7
92	Mexico	41.6
93	Nicaragua	41.6
94	Dominica	41.6
95	Cote d'Ivoire	41.5
96	Kenya	41.3
97	Gabon	41.3
98	Tanzania	41.3
99	Maldives	41.2
100	Ghana	41.2
101	Grenada	41.0
102	Saudi Arabia	40.8
103	Sierra Leone	40.8
104	Rwanda	40.6
105	Brunei	40.5
106	Dominican Republic	40.5
107	Micronesia	40.4
108	Sri Lanka	40.4
109	Morocco	40.3
110	Malawi	40.2
111	Senegal	40.1
112	Honduras	40.0
113	Cameroon	39.8
114	Cambodia	39.8
115	Bangladesh	39.7
116	Venezuela	39.7
117	Togo	39.3
118	Laos	39.3
119	Democratic Republic of Congo	39.3
120	India	39.3

Rank	Country	Score
121	Papua New Guinea	39.0
122	Qatar	38.9
123	Namibia	38.8
124	Ethiopia	38.8
125	Uganda	38.7
126	Nigeria	38.7
127	Guinea	38.7
128	Tajikistan	38.7
129	Oman	38.6
130	Tunisia	38.6
131	Jordan	38.5
132	Cape Verde	38.4
133	Jamaica	38.3
134	Liberia	38.2
135	Seychelles	38.2
136	West Bank and Gaza	38.1
137	Azerbaijan	37.8
138	South Africa	37.6
139	Guatemala	37.6
140	Botswana	37.5
141	Egypt	37.5
142	Gambia	37.4
143	Guinea-Bissau	37.4
144	Zimbabwe	37.4
145	Lesotho	37.3
146	Benin	37.2
147	Algeria	37.2
148	Angola	37.2
149	Bahamas	37.1
150	Djibouti	37.1
151	Iran	37.1
152	Trinidad and Tobago	37.0
153	Mozambique	37.0
154	Kuwait	36.9
155	Republic of Congo	36.8
156	Niger	36.8
157	St. Kitts and Nevis	36.3
158	Madagascar	36.0
159	Zambia	35.9
160	Central African Republic	35.8
161	Burkina Faso	35.7
162	Equatorial Guinea	35.6
163	Eswatini	35.6
164	Bahrain	35.4
165	Haiti	35.3
166	Turkmenistan	35.3
167	Comoros	35.3
168	Mauritania	35.2
169	Pakistan	34.8
170	Chad	34.7
171	Lebanon	34.5
172	Burundi	34.3
173	Afghanistan	34.0
174	Yemen	33.9
175	Mali	33.6
176	Syria	32.8
177	Sudan	32.7
178	Iraq	32.1
179	South Sudan	31.7
180	Eritrea	31.3

What people say about the GSCI

“My sincere congratulations for pulling together, once again, critical information in such a compelling manner. It is to be hoped that policy makers everywhere will read the report.”

- George Kell -

Former Executive Director,

UN Global Compact