Namibia ranks poorly for competitiveness
Namibia's high murder rate, quality of land administration and airport connectivity have all contributed to the country's poor ranking in terms of competitiveness.
Namibia has been ranked 100th out of 140 countries by the World Economic Forum's latest Global Competiveness Report.
It dropped one place from last year's ranking.
With a score of 52.7 out of 100 on the index, it showed a slight improvement of 0.3 compared to 2017.
While Namibia ranked ninth most competitive in Africa, it was ranked the sixth most competitive economy in sub-Saharan Africa, with Mauritius (49th in the world), South Africa (67th), Seychelles (74th), Botswana (90th) and Kenya (93rd) all outranking above it.
The report pointed out that except for Seychelles, which moved up 10 places compared to 2017, other sub-Saharan African countries ranked higher than Namibia lost ground in terms of competitiveness, with South Africa and Botswana both dropping down five places.
There were no results for Mauritius and Kenya in 2017.
The new index measured 140 economies against 98 indicators, organised into 12 'pillars' or drivers of productivity, to determine how close their economies were to an ideal state or 'frontier' of competitiveness.
Namibia's best sub-rankings were under the labour market pillar (39th place), the financial system (47th) and institutions (51st), while the country obtained its worst ranking for health (117th), ICT adoption (105th) and skills (100th).
One of the indicators that Namibia scored worst in was for its homicide rate, for which it was ranked 128th globally.
The country's air connectivity was ranked 119th and administration of land 110th.
According to the report, 17 of the 34 sub-Saharan African economies studied are among the bottom 20 globally, and the region's median is a low of 45.2, less than halfway to the competitiveness frontier.
The US topped the rankings, being 'closest to the competitiveness frontier', with Singapore, Germany, Switzerland and Japan completing the top five.
On the other end of the scale, Haiti, Yemen and Chad were found to be the least competitive economies.
Competitiveness is not only associated with higher incomes, but also better socioeconomic outcomes, including life satisfaction.
The US scored 85.6 out of 100 to top the index, coming in the top three in seven of the 12 pillars. Its entrepreneurial culture saw it score highly in the business dynamism pillar. It also scored highly for its labour market and financial system.
The top 11 countries all scored above 80 points for competitiveness. Second-placed Singapore (83.5) is defined by its high score for openness and leads the way for infrastructure, with a near-perfect score of 95.7 for its world-beating transport system.
ELLANIE SMIT
Namibia has been ranked 100th out of 140 countries by the World Economic Forum's latest Global Competiveness Report.
It dropped one place from last year's ranking.
With a score of 52.7 out of 100 on the index, it showed a slight improvement of 0.3 compared to 2017.
While Namibia ranked ninth most competitive in Africa, it was ranked the sixth most competitive economy in sub-Saharan Africa, with Mauritius (49th in the world), South Africa (67th), Seychelles (74th), Botswana (90th) and Kenya (93rd) all outranking above it.
The report pointed out that except for Seychelles, which moved up 10 places compared to 2017, other sub-Saharan African countries ranked higher than Namibia lost ground in terms of competitiveness, with South Africa and Botswana both dropping down five places.
There were no results for Mauritius and Kenya in 2017.
The new index measured 140 economies against 98 indicators, organised into 12 'pillars' or drivers of productivity, to determine how close their economies were to an ideal state or 'frontier' of competitiveness.
Namibia's best sub-rankings were under the labour market pillar (39th place), the financial system (47th) and institutions (51st), while the country obtained its worst ranking for health (117th), ICT adoption (105th) and skills (100th).
One of the indicators that Namibia scored worst in was for its homicide rate, for which it was ranked 128th globally.
The country's air connectivity was ranked 119th and administration of land 110th.
According to the report, 17 of the 34 sub-Saharan African economies studied are among the bottom 20 globally, and the region's median is a low of 45.2, less than halfway to the competitiveness frontier.
The US topped the rankings, being 'closest to the competitiveness frontier', with Singapore, Germany, Switzerland and Japan completing the top five.
On the other end of the scale, Haiti, Yemen and Chad were found to be the least competitive economies.
Competitiveness is not only associated with higher incomes, but also better socioeconomic outcomes, including life satisfaction.
The US scored 85.6 out of 100 to top the index, coming in the top three in seven of the 12 pillars. Its entrepreneurial culture saw it score highly in the business dynamism pillar. It also scored highly for its labour market and financial system.
The top 11 countries all scored above 80 points for competitiveness. Second-placed Singapore (83.5) is defined by its high score for openness and leads the way for infrastructure, with a near-perfect score of 95.7 for its world-beating transport system.
ELLANIE SMIT
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