Croatia has made progress in all factors of competitiveness and has moved up by 13 notches to 46th place on the IMD's World Competitiveness Ranking, according to the World Competitiveness Yearbook published by the Institute for Management Development (IMD) on Wednesday.

Denmark reached the top spot for the first time in the ranking’s 34-year history, having come 3rd in 2021, while Croatia has made the biggest leap of 13 places from 59th to 46th position. The World Competitiveness Centre ascribes Croatia’s performance also to the improvement of business climate against a backdrop of the forthcoming accession to the euro area.

The ranking is based on the survey of the performance of each of 63 analyzed countries in a total of 333 criteria. Two thirds of benchmarks are based on statistical data, and a third on opinions of entrepreneurs. Concerning the Economic Performance benchmark, Croatia ranks 32rd, after it was on the 50 place in 2021.

Croatia has moved up from 57th to 46th place in the Government Efficiency segment. In terms of Business Efficiency, it has reached 49th place after it was ranked 64th in 2021, and in the Infrastructure segment, it has moved up 5 places to 45th. The opinions of the respondents (Executive Opinion Survey) shows that Croatia’s biggest advantage is skilled and qualified labor force and a high level of the education system.

The acting head of the Croatian Competitiveness Council, Ivan Misetic, says in his statement that he is happy with the great improvement made by Croatia on the ranking.

Switzerland moved down to 2nd (from 1st) and Singapore rebounded to 3rd (from 5th), said the Lausanne-based organisation.