Global Sustainability Competitiveness Index

Sustainable Competitiveness Index World Map

The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index

The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index (GSCI) is the most comprehensive ranking of countries currently available. The GSCI measures competitiveness of countries based on 127 measurable, quantitative indicators derived from reliable sources, such as the World Bank, the IMF, and various UN agencies. The 127 indicators are grouped into 5 sub-indexes: Natural Capital, Resource Efficiency & Intensity, Intellectual Capital, Governance Efficiency, and Social Cohesion. More details on the methodology are available here.

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

Intellectual Capital & Inovation: the capability to generate wealth and jobs through innovation and value-added industries in the globalised markets
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

Quick links

-The GSCI Index
– Natural Capital Index
– Resource Efficiency Index
– Social Capital Index
– Intellectual Capital Index
– Governance Performance Index
– Downloads

Downloads
Download the report: The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index 2020(PDF)
Download the data: GSCI Scores 2020(XLSX)

Policies for mor sustainable AND more prosperous societies:Sustainable, Democratic, Competitive

The Sustainable Competitiveness Index 2020 Sustainability Scores - State of The World:

The Global average sustainable competitiveness score is 46.3 – less than 50% of the possible best score, while the currently leading nation, Sweden, achieves a score of 62: even the leading nations are far from being truly sustainable & competitive.

Global Average

Global Best

Ideal World

Global Status by Sub-Index

Global Trends

While 38% of all trends are deteriorating, 58% of all trends globally are improving.

Improving Trends

Detoriating Trends

Highlights and key take-aways from the GSCI 2020

Scandinavia keeps topping the GSCI: Sweden is leading the Sustainable Competitiveness Index, closely followed by Iceland, Denmark & Finland, while Norway is ranked 9
The top 20 are dominated by Northern European countries, including the Baltic states
Of the top twenty nations only one is not European – New Zealand on 11
Germany ranks 15, the UK 17
The World’s largest economy, the US, is ranked 32. The US ranks particularly low in resource efficiency, but also social capital – potentially undermining the global status of the US in the future
Of the large emerging economies (BRICs), China is ranked 37, Brazil 49, Russia 51, and India 130.
Some of the least developed nations have a considerable higher GSCI ranking than their GDP would suggest (e.g. Nepal, Guyana, Laos, Belize, …), namely thanks to high score in the Natural Capital Index
Asian nations (South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and China) lead the Intellectual Capital Index – the fundament of innovation. However, achieving sustained prosperity in these countries might be compromised by Natural Capital constraints and current low resource efficiency
The Social Capital Index ranking is headed by Northern European (Scandinavian) countries, indicating that Social Cohesion is the result of economic growth combined with a country-wide social consensus
Sovereign bond ratings do not take into account the underlying sustainability factors; they only describe symptoms, not causes. It is high time that credit ratings do take into account the basis of sustained wealth, because sovereign credit ratings do not fully reflect investor risks.

Download the The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index 2020 (PDF, 55 pages)

2020 Global Rankings

Rank	Country	Score
1	Sweden	62.1
2	Denmark	60.1
3	Iceland	60.73
4	Finland	60.4
5	Switzerland	59.44
6	Estonia	59.38
7	Latvia	58.17
8	Luxembourg	57.95
9	Norway	57.68
10	Croatia	57.18
11	New Zealand	57.16
12	Liechtenstein	57.05
13	Ireland	56.75
14	Austria	56.67
15	United Kingdom	56.12
16	Slovenia	55.9
17	Lithuania	55.86
18	France	55.51
19	Czech Republic	55.16
20	Portugal	54.97
21	Slovakia	54.93
22	Germany	54.57
23	Romania	54.49
24	Hungary	52.88
25	Netherlands	52.86
26	Poland	52.84
27	Costa Rica	52.6
28	Japan	52.47
29	Belgium	52.12
30	Uruguay	51.99
31	Spain	51.83
32	USA	51.66
33	Italy	51.6
34	Bulgaria	51.56
35	South Korea	51.35
36	Canada	51.28
37	Georgia	51.23
38	Malta	50.86
39	China	50.83
40	Serbia	50.72
41	Chile	50.57
42	Bosnia and Herzegovina	50.46
43	Macedonia	50.41
44	Singapore	50.31
45	Australia	50.21
46	Bolivia	50.01
47	Greece	49.96
48	Russia	49.94
49	Peru	49.92
50	Moldova	49.76
51	Paraguay	49.7
52	Mauritius	49.45
53	Nepal	49.41
54	Brazil	49.05
55	Bhutan	49.02
56	Timor-Leste	48.92
57	Israel	48.9
58	Guyana	48.67
59	Belarus	48.56
60	Ghana	48.48

Rank	Country	Score
61	Uzbekistan	48.36
62	Belize	48.17
63	Montenegro	48.06
64	Argentina	48.06
65	Maldives	48.01
66	Thailand	47.59
67	Cyprus	47.56
68	Indonesia	47.44
69	Albania	47.43
70	Colombia	47.4
71	Armenia	47.24
72	Kazakhstan	47.1
73	Malaysia	47.04
74	Brunei	47.04
75	Ethiopia	47.02
76	Ukraine	46.69
77	Fiji	46.65
78	Kyrgistan	46.61
79	Ecuador	46.58
80	Suriname	46.53
81	Kenya	46.52
82	Laos	46.46
83	Mexico	46.36
84	Turkey	46.3
85	Panama	46.27
86	Sri Lanka	46.25
87	Tonga	46.09
88	Cameroon	45.97
89	Burma	45.92
90	Cambodia	45.86
91	Vietnam	45.79
92	Cuba	45.61
93	Iran	45.35
94	Dominica	45.28
95	Cote d'Ivoire	45.27
96	Samoa	45.15
97	Azerbaijan	45.07
98	Sao Tome and Principe	44.97
99	Venezuela	44.75
100	Tajikistan	44.75
101	El Salvador	44.72
102	Philippines	44.7
103	Solomon Islands	44.6
104	United Arab Emirates	44.52
105	Democratic Republic of Congo	44.48
106	Dominican Republic	44.46
107	Nicaragua	44.09
108	Saudi Arabia	44.05
109	Gabon	43.89
110	Mongolia	43.78
111	Mozambique	43.71
112	Sierra Leone	43.4
113	Tanzania	43.39
114	Vanuatu	43.33
115	Bangladesh	43.29
116	Bahamas	43.13
117	Swaziland	43.07
118	Senegal	43
119	Cape Verde	42.97
120	Papua New Guinea	42.87

Rank	Country	Score
121	Kiribati	42.74
122	Grenada	42.55
123	Zimbabwe	42.55
124	Jamaica	42.5
125	Burkina Faso	42.43
126	Micronesia	42.36
127	India	42.36
128	St. Kitts and Nevis	42.23
129	Botswana	42.21
130	Honduras	42.17
131	Guinea	41.97
132	Tunisia	41.88
133	Morocco	41.84
134	Libya	41.75
135	Seychelles	41.74
136	Republic of Congo	41.72
137	Oman	41.62
138	Guatemala	41.61
139	Rwanda	41.57
140	Gambia	41.53
141	Togo	41.53
142	Djibouti	41.4
143	Liberia	41.37
144	Lesotho	41.31
145	Bahrain	41.3
146	Kuwait	41.15
147	Algeria	41.1
148	Zambia	41.09
149	Nigeria	40.93
150	Qatar	40.91
151	Benin	40.78
152	Equatorial Guinea	40.75
153	Trinidad and Tobago	40.75
154	Namibia	40.59
155	Niger	40.4
156	Angola	40.32
157	South Africa	39.91
158	Malawi	39.9
159	Mali	39.62
160	Jordan	39.52
161	Guinea-Bissau	39.38
162	Madagascar	39
163	Sudan	39
164	Turkmenistan	38.98
165	Egypt	38.94
166	Comoros	38.55
167	Burundi	38.41
168	Syria	37.98
169	Lebanon	37.93
170	West Bank and Gaza	37.78
171	Uganda	37.55
172	Chad	37.13
173	Central African Republic	36.94
174	Pakistan	36.1
175	Eritrea	35.85
176	Haiti	35.54
177	Mauritania	35.13
178	Afghanistan	34.95
179	Yemen	34.93
180	Iraq	33.89

What people say about the GSCI

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

- George Kell -

Former Executive Director,

UN Global Compact