Global Sustainability Competitiveness Index

Sustainable Competitiveness Index World Map

The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index

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 131 measurable, quantitative indicators derived from reliable sources, such as the World Bank, the IMF, and various UN agencies. The 131 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

Taken togehter, these five pillars reflect the sustainable competitiveness of a country and form the Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index.

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 2021(PDF)
Download the data: GSCI Scores 2021(XLSX)

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

The Sustainable Competitiveness Index 2021 State of The World 2021:

The average sustainable competitiveness score is 45.3, less than 50% of the possible best score. The higest score is 61.8

Even the leading nations are far from being truly sustainable & competitive.

Global Average

Global Best

Ideal World

Improving Development

Deteriorating Development

Globally, 36% of all indicators are deteriorating.

53% of all indicators show positive developments.

Highlights and key take-aways from the GSCI 2021

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 13, and New Zealand (14). South Korea follows on 21.
China is ranked 32 – very strong in Intellectual Capital, but low on Natural Capital
The USA is ranked 30, ranking particularly low in resource efficiency and social capital – potentially further undermining the global status of the US in the future
Germany ranks 8, the UK 17. Brazil is 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, …)
Asian nations (South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and China) 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 2021 (PDF, 72 pages)

2021 Global Sustainability Rankings

Rank	Country	Score
1	Sweden	61.2
2	Finland	60.7
3	Switzerland	60.4
4	Denmark	60.2
5	Norway	59.8
6	Iceland	59.8
7	Ireland	57.6
8	France	56.8
9	Austria	56.6
10	Germany	56.6
11	Estonia	56.1
12	Liechtenstein	56.0
13	Japan	55.3
14	Croatia	55.1
15	New Zealand	54.9
16	Portugal	54.8
17	United Kingdom	54.6
18	Slovenia	54.3
19	Luxembourg	53.9
20	Netherlands	53.9
21	South Korea	53.9
22	Latvia	53.5
23	Slovakia	53.1
24	Belgium	53.0
25	Lithuania	53.0
26	Czech Republic	52.9
27	Spain	52.7
28	Costa Rica	52.4
29	Romania	52.3
30	USA	52.0
31	Malta	51.7
32	Italy	51.7
33	China	51.4
34	Uruguay	51.3
35	Poland	51.2
36	Hungary	50.8
37	Canada	50.6
38	Chile	50.4
39	Peru	50.3
40	Albania	49.9
41	Serbia	49.7
42	Greece	49.6
43	Mauritius	49.6
44	Bulgaria	49.6
45	Paraguay	49.5
46	Bhutan	49.4
47	Australia	49.3
48	Singapore	49.3
49	Bolivia	49.3
50	Russia	49.2
51	Ecuador	49.1
52	Brazil	48.8
53	Panama	48.7
54	Colombia	48.7
55	Argentina	48.6
56	Georgia	48.5
57	Belarus	48.5
58	Israel	48.2
59	Sri Lanka	48.1
60	Belize	47.6

Rank	Country	Score
61	Venezuela	47.6
62	Cyprus	47.5
63	Armenia	47.4
64	Solomon Islands	47.4
65	North Macedonia	47.3
66	Ukraine	47.3
67	Malaysia	47.3
68	Bosnia and Herzegovina	47.0
69	Timor-Leste	47.0
70	Fiji	46.9
71	Ghana	46.9
72	Montenegro	46.8
73	Samoa	46.7
74	Brunei	46.7
75	Indonesia	46.5
76	Kyrgistan	46.4
77	Moldova	46.0
78	Tonga	45.9
79	Turkey	45.8
80	Kazakhstan	45.8
81	Nepal	45.5
82	Suriname	45.3
83	Cote d'Ivoire	45.2
84	Uzbekistan	45.2
85	Dominica	45.2
86	Maldives	45.1
87	El Salvador	45.1
88	Thailand	45.0
89	Mexico	44.9
90	Cameroon	44.9
91	Guyana	44.9
92	Kenya	44.8
93	Burma	44.6
94	Kiribati	44.3
95	Dominican Republic	44.0
96	United Arab Emirates	43.9
97	Sierra Leone	43.6
98	Ethiopia	43.4
99	Laos	43.4
100	Cuba	43.4
101	Vanuatu	43.2
102	Namibia	43.1
103	Morocco	43.1
104	Tajikistan	43.1
105	Cambodia	43.0
106	Botswana	42.9
107	Gabon	42.9
108	Nicaragua	42.8
109	Senegal	42.7
110	Grenada	42.6
111	Iran	42.5
112	Sao Tome and Principe	42.4
113	Bangladesh	42.3
114	Saudi Arabia	42.3
115	Vietnam	42.2
116	Micronesia	42.1
117	Oman	42.1
118	Philippines	42.0
119	Democratic Republic of Congo	41.8
120	Tanzania	41.7

Rank	Country	Score
121	Seychelles	41.7
122	Guinea	41.6
123	Mongolia	41.6
124	Eswatini	41.5
125	Burkina Faso	41.5
126	Jamaica	41.5
127	Equatorial Guinea	41.4
128	Tunisia	41.4
129	Papua New Guinea	41.2
130	St. Kitts and Nevis	41.1
131	Egypt	41.0
132	Jordan	41.0
133	Malawi	40.9
134	Angola	40.9
135	India	40.9
136	Azerbaijan	40.7
137	Niger	40.6
138	Rwanda	40.3
139	Kuwait	40.2
140	Honduras	40.0
141	Togo	40.0
142	Republic of Congo	40.0
143	Turkmenistan	39.7
144	Algeria	39.6
145	Nigeria	39.6
146	Qatar	39.3
147	South Africa	39.3
148	Afghanistan	39.3
149	Lesotho	39.2
150	Benin	39.2
151	Guatemala	39.1
152	Mali	39.0
153	Guinea-Bissau	38.9
154	Madagascar	38.8
155	Zambia	38.7
156	Zimbabwe	38.6
157	Trinidad and Tobago	38.6
158	Gambia	38.1
159	Comoros	38.1
160	Mauritania	37.8
161	Bahamas	37.7
162	Uganda	37.6
163	West Bank and Gaza	37.6
164	Djibouti	37.6
165	Central African Republic	37.5
166	Bahrain	37.2
167	Liberia	37.1
168	Mozambique	36.8
169	Haiti	36.7
170	Pakistan	36.7
171	Chad	36.6
172	Sudan	36.3
173	Yemen	36.2
174	Burundi	36.0
175	Lebanon	35.7
176	Syria	35.4
177	Libya	35.4
178	South Sudan	35.0
179	Eritrea	34.5
180	Somalia	32.7

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