WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM – THE MOST COMPETITIVE NATIONAL ECONOMIES AND THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIAN COUNTRIES

Abstract

Competitiveness is the ability of the national economy to reach high but sustainable growth rates of GDP per capita. Since 1979, experts from the World Economic Forum have been compiling an annual Global Competitiveness Report, ranking national economies globally. As a way of measuring the competitiveness of national economies, 12 pillars of competitiveness are used to determine the overall ranking of each country. The 2019 report covered 141 countries and most competitive economies are Singapore, United States, Hong Kong, Netherlands and Switzerland. In 2019 Serbia was ranked 72nd on the list, which is seven positions lower from the previous year and 37th positions lower than Slovenia, which represents the best-ranked country of the former Yugoslavia, because of macroeconomic stability and skills of population, business dynamics and the ability to innovate. Serbia should improve its position in the field of adoption of information and communication technologies, health care and the financial system. The worst-ranked country of former Yugoslavia in 2019 was Bosnia and Herzegovina and it should improve position within institutions, product market, labor market, market size, business dynamics and ability to innovate.