Singapore Rankings | Singapore Economic Development Board

Singapore is the world's easiest place to do business

Economy	2012 Rank	2011 Rank
Singapore	1	1
Hong Kong SAR, China	2	2
New Zealand	3	3
United States	4	4
Denmark	5	5
Norway	6	7
United Kingdom	7	6
Korea, Rep.	8	15
Iceland	9	13
Ireland	10	8

Source: Doing Business 2012 Report, World Bank
Note: The rankings for all economies are benchmarked to June 2011 and reported in the country tables. This year's rankings on the ease of doing business are the average of the economy's rankings on the 10 topics included in this year's aggregate ranking. Last year's rankings, shown in italics, are adjusted: they are based on 10 topics and reflect data corrections. The number of reforms excludes those making it more difficult to do business.

Singapore is among the top 2 most competitive countries in the world

Rank	Country	Score
1	Switzerland	5.74
2	Singapore	5.63
3	Sweden	5.61
4	Finland	5.47
5	United States	5.43
6	Germany	5.41
7	Netherlands	5.41
8	Denmark	5.40
9	Japan	5.40
10	United Kingdom	5.39

Source: The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012, World Economic Forum

Singapore is the best business environment in Asia Pacific and worldwide

EIU Business Environment Ranking 2011
Ranking	Country	Score
1	Singapore	8.68
2	Switzerland	8.44
3	Hong Kong	8.41
4	Australia	8.37
5	Canada	8.35
6	Sweden	8.32
7	New Zeland	8.24
8	Denmark	8.11
9	US	8.07
10	Norway	8.05
11	Finland	8.02
12	Chile	8.00
13	Taiwan	7.95
14	Germany	7.92
15	Netherlands	7.83

Source: Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Forecasts, December 2011

Singapore is Asia's most "network ready" country

Singapore is ranked first in the world as the city with the best investment potential

Rank	Country	Present Combined Score
1	Singapore	79
2	Switzerland	77
3	Norway	73
4	Taiwan (R.O.C)	73
5	Netherlands	69
6	Austria	67
7	Germany	66
8	Canada	64
9	Sweden	64
10	Finland	62
11	Belgium	63
12	Japan	62
13	Denmark	60
14	China (P.R.C)	60
15	United States	60

Source: BERI Report 2011-II (August 2011)
Note:
The POR is based on a combined score of the +5 years ratings derived by adding the
1) Operations Risk Index (ORI)
2) Political Risk Index (PRI)
3) Remittance and Repatriation Factor (R Factor) and dividing by three.

Singapore is among the top 3 in foreign trade and investment

Country	Ranking	Score
Hong Kong (SAR)	1	7.48
Ireland	2	7.34
Singapore	3	6.78
Denmark	4	5.93
Switzerland	5	5.86
Belgium	6	5.82
Sweden	7	5.80
Netherlands	8	5.59
Hungary	9	5.35
Finland	10	5.29

Source: The Globalisation Index 2010

Singapore is the world leader in foreign trade and investment

Country	Ranking	Score
Singapore	1	7.29
Hong Kong	2	6.90
Ireland	3	6.87
Belgium	4	5.82
Sweden	5	5.77
Denmark	6	5.77
Switzerland	7	5.62
Netherlands	8	5.45
Israel	9	5.16
Finland	10	5.14

Source: The Globalisation Index 2009

Singapore is the least bureaucratic place for doing business in Asia

Rank	Country	Index
1	Sweden	6.39
2	Finland	5.95
3	Singapore	5.90
4	Switzerland	5.60
5	Denmark	5.53
6	Hong Kong	5.41
7	Canada	5.04
8	New Zealand	4.96
9	Malaysia	4.92
10	Australia	4.88
10	Norway	4.88
12	Chile	4.82
13	Ireland	4.64
14	Qatar	4.56
15	Netherlands	4.54

Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2011

Singapore is ranked the most transparent country in Asia

Rank	Country	Index
1	Sweden	8.11
2	Singapore	7.85
3	Chile	7.65
4	New Zealand	7.59
5	Finland	7.56
6	Norway	7.42
7	Switzerland	7.38
8	Qatar	7.29
9	Denmark	7.29
10	Netherlands	6.88
11	Lexembourg	6.64
12	Australia	6.52
13	Canada	6.34
14	Hong Kong	6.32
15	United Kingdom	5.95

Source: IMD World Competitiveness Report 2011

Singapore is ranked 7th in the world and 1st in Asia for having the least corruption in its economy

Rank	Country	Index
1	Denmark	9.06
2	Finland	8.74
3	New Zealand	8.51
4	Switzerland	8.10
5	Australia	8.08
6	Netherlands	8.00
7	Singapore	7.99
8	Sweden	7.79
9	Luxembourg	7.59
10	Norway	7.47
11	Qatar	7.45
12	Chile	7.43
13	Hong Kong	7.16
14	USA	7.13
15	Canada	7.12

Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2011

Singapore is ranked 2nd in the world and 1st in Asia for having the best protection of intellectual property

Ranking	Country	Index
1	Finland	6.2
2	Singapore	6.1
3	Switzerland	6.1
4	Sweden	6.0
5	Luxembourg	5.9
6	Denmark	5.9
7	France	5.8
8	New Zealand	5.8
9	Netherlands	5.8
10	Ireland	5.7
11	United Kingdom	5.7
12	Norway	5.6
13	Germany	5.6
14	Hong Kong SAR	5.5
15	Qatar	5.5

Source: The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012, World Economic Forum

Singapore is the best place in Asia to live, work and play

Mercer Quality of Living Survey - Worldwide Rankings, 2011
Ranking	City	Country
1	Vienna	Austria
2	Zurich	Switzerland
3	Auckland	New Zealand
4	Munich	Germany
5	Düsseldorf	Germany
6	Vancouver	Canada
7	Frankfurt	Germany
8	Geneva	Switzerland
9	Bern	Switzerland
10	Copenhagen	Denmark
11	Sydney	Australia
12	Amsterdam	Netherlands
13	Wellington	New Zealand
14	Ottawa	Canada
15	Toronto	Canada
16	Hamburg	Germany
17	Berlin	Germany
18	Melbourne	Australia
19	Luxembourg	Luxembourg
20	Stockholm	Sweden
21	Perth	Australia
22	Brussels	Belgium
23	Montreal	Canada
24	Nurnberg	Germany
25	Singapore	Singapore

Source: Quality of Living worldwide city rankings, Mercer survey, 2011

Singapore is the first choice for Asian expatriates

Rank 2010	Location
1	Singapore
2	Sydney
3	Kobe
4	Yokohama
5	Tokyo
5	Copenhagen
7	Canberra
8	Hong Kong
8	Melbourne
10	Dublin
10	Vancouver
10	Wellington
13	Antwerp
13	Brussels
13	Bern

Source : ECA Location Ratings Survey, ECA International, 24 March 2010

Foreign talent rank Singapore as Asia's best country to work in

Rank	Country	Index
1	Switzerland	9.00
2	USA	8.44
3	Singapore	8.15
4	Australia	8.08
5	Qatar	7.81
6	United Kingdom	7.66
7	Hong Kong	7.65
8	UAE	7.56
9	Canada	7.52
10	Luxembourg	7.42
11	Chile	7.24
12	Indonesia	6.68
13	Malaysia	6.44
14	Netherlands	6.39
15	Ireland	6.27

Source: The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012, World Economic Forum

Singapore maintains top position in BERI's Labour Force Evaluation Measure

Labour Force Evaluation Measure (LFEM), ranked by 2011 ratings
Country	2011 LFEM
Singapore	90
U.S.A	77
Taiwan (R.O.C)	76
Switzerland	75
Belgium	74
Japan	74
Ireland	68
Sweden	67
Netherlands	67
Australia	67
UK	64
Denmark	64
Germany	63
France	63
Canada	62

Source: BERI Report 2011-I

Singapore is among the top 10 in Asia for the most motivated workforce

Worker Motivation
Ranking	Country	Score
1	Denmark	8.09
2	Switzerland	7.92
3	Austria	7.73
4	Taiwan	7.67
5	Norway	7.49
6	Sweden	7.36
7	Israel	7.28
8	Germany	7.24
9	Iceland	7.20
10	Hong Kong	7.18
11	Netherlands	7.14
12	Malaysia	7.09
13	Australia	7.05
14	Ireland	6.94
15	Japan	6.88
16	Thailand	6.79
17	Finland	6.76
18	Singapore	6.63
19	Brazil	6.59
20	New Zealand	6.51

Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2011

Singapore is among the top 10 in Asia for the best skilled labour

Availability of Skilled Labour
Ranking	Country	Score
1	Ireland	8.27
2	Denmark	7.86
3	Iceland	7.82
4	Israel	7.62
5	Finland	7.35
6	Japan	7.34
7	USA	7.30
8	Czech Republic	7.24
9	Canada	7.14
10	Taiwan	7.11
11	Philippines	7.10
12	Netherlands	6.95
13	Norway	6.92
14	Greece	6.87
15	Hong Kong	6.86
16	Germany	6.85
17	Austria	6.84
18	Switzerland	6.83
19	Sweden	6.80
20	Spain	6.70
21	Malaysia	6.57
22	India	6.53
23	Colombia	6.49
24	Singapore	6.46
25	Belgium	6.39

Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2011

Singapore is among the top 5 in the world for the most business conducive labour regulations

Ranking	Country	Index
1	Denmark	8.35
2	Switzerland	7.96
3	Iceland	7.91
4	Hong Kong	7.10
5	Singapore	7.05
6	Thailand	6.92
7	Estonia	6.52
8	USA	6.48
9	Malaysia	6.47
10	Israel	6.46
11	China Mainland	6.34
12	Canada	6.34
13	Taiwan	6.25
14	Kazakhstan	6.17
15	New Zealand	6.00

Source: The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012, World Economic Forum

Singapore has the best labour/employer relations in Asia

Cooperation in labour/employer relations
Ranking	Country	Index
1	Switzerland	6.1
2	Singapore	6.1
3	Denmark	5.9
4	Norway	5.8
5	Netherlands	5.7
6	Japan	5.7
7	Sweden	5.7
8	Iceland	5.6
9	Austria	5.6
10	Luxembourg	5.5
11	Costa Rica	5.5
12	Hong Kong SAR	5.4
13	New Zealand	5.4
14	United Arab Emirates	5.4
15	Malaysia	5.4

Source: The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012, World Economic Forum

Singapore immigration laws for foreign talent highly-regarded for being business-centric

Rank	Country	Index
1	Chile	8.00
2	Ireland	7.69
3	Argentina	7.57
4	Portugal	7.52
5	Finland	7.26
6	Hong Kong	7.22
7	Sweden	7.20
8	Spain	7.15
9	Switzerland	7.11
10	Luxembourg	6.90
11	Netherlands	6.77
12	France	6.70
13	Poland	6.55
14	Peru	6.54
15	Iceland	6.44
16	Czech Republic	6.37
17	Canada	6.36
18	Hungary	6.35
19	Belgium	6.31
20	Philippines	6.25
21	New Zealand	6.23
22	UAE	6.18
23	Colombia	6.18
24	Italy	6.17
25	Indonesia	6.15
26	United Kingdom	6.14
27	Thailand	6.11
28	Greece	6.11
29	Singapore	6.05
30	Norway	6.05

Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2011

Notes: The higher the score is, the less immigrations laws
prevent companies from employing foreign labour.

Singapore is ranked first for having the most open economy for international trade and investment

Economic Performance
- Singapore is ranked first in the world as the city with the best investment potential
- Singapore is among the top 3 in foreign trade and investment
Competitiveness & Business Environment
Business Legislation and Efficiency
- Singapore is ranked 2nd in the world and 1st in Asia for having the best protection of intellectual property
- Singapore is the least bureaucratic place for doing business in Asia
Government
- Singapore is ranked 7th in the world and 1st in Asia for having the least corruption in its economy
- Singapore is ranked the most transparent country in Asia
Labour
Expatriate Living