The GTCI model covers 103 countries, representing 86.3 per cent of the world’s population and 96.7 per cent of the world’s GDP.
The first GTCI ranking is heavily dominated by European countries. The top ten include only two non-European countries, namely Singapore (2) and the United States (9). Within Europe, it is mostly the northern part of the continent that appears as most ‘talent competitive’. The top-ranked nations all have many aspects in common, including a long-standing commitment to quality education (UK, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden), history of immigration (US, Australia) and a clear strategy to grow and attract the best and brightest (Singapore).
Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director for Global Indices at INSEAD, and co-author of the report said that “Talent attractiveness is becoming the true currency by which countries, regions and cities compete with each other. Youth unemployment has become a core issue in all types of countries, rich or poor, industrialised or emerging: over 50 per cent of people younger than 25 are unemployed in Southern Europe, while more than 50 per cent of the population of many African countries is less than 18 years of age. The mere confrontation of these two figures gives an idea of the tensions, flows, and challenges that lie ahead.”
Top Ten 2013 Rankings and Scores – Global
1 Switzerland 6 Netherlands
2 Singapore 7 UK
3 Denmark 8 Finland
4 Sweden 9 US
5 Luxembourg 10 Iceland