Georgia ranks 74th in the Global Competitiveness Index

The World Economic Forum has released its 2019 Global Competitiveness Rating. According to the report, Georgia ranks 74th out of 141 countries.

Georgia was 66th in the 2018 report, which means Georgia fell 8 places compared to the previous year. The country's score is 60.6 out of 100 this year, compared to 61 of the previous rankings.

The World Economic Forum establishes a global competitiveness rating based on 12 criteria and many sub-criteria. These include macroeconomic stability, state institutions and infrastructure, the efficiency of labor and commodity markets, and technological readiness.

Of the four key criteria, Georgia's position has deteriorated in two - economic environment and markets, while improving in human capital and the innovation ecosystem. The rates of the country demonstrate the lowest scores in terms of innovation, market size, and financial system, but remain relatively high in terms of health, macroeconomic stability and qualifications

Georgia's situation has improved in six components, namely infrastructure (73rd), skills (46th), financial system (91st), market volume (104th), business dynamics (58th) and in terms of innovative opportunities (91st place). Conversely, in institutions (43rd), adoption of information and communication technologies (55th), macroeconomic stability (84th), healthcare (87th), products market (48th) and in terms of the labor market (37th place) the deterioration is significant.

According to the index, Georgia has the most difficult situation in terms of innovation and market size. Georgia ranks 91st in innovation and 104th in market size. The low level of innovation is due to a rather low research rate (R&D) by companies, a small amount of money spent on research by universities and a small number of qualified engineers and scientists in the country. Georgia's innovation score is 32.7. In this respect, the country scores are the same, although the place of detention is deteriorating as other countries have improved their position in this criterion.

The top five in the 2019 rankings are Singapore, the US, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Chad is at the bottom of the list.

As for Georgia's neighboring countries, according to the Global Competitiveness Index, Russia ranks 43rd, Azerbaijan 58th, Turkey 61st, and Armenia 69th.

The World Economic Forum has been publishing the Global Competitiveness Index since 2005. The research defines competitiveness as the combination of institutions, policies, and other factors that determine a country's productivity level. The level of productivity, in turn, determines the level of return on investment from the economy. This is the main driver of economic growth. Thus, an economy that is growing rapidly over time is considered competitive.