Bulgaria Ranks 51st among 140 Countries in World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index

Bulgaria is positioned 51st with 63.6 points out of 100 in this year’s edition of the Global Competitiveness Index, prepared by the World Economic Forum. The index measures the ability of each country to provide prosperity for its citizens. The score of each country is based on 12 main categories, including general macroeconomic stability, institutions, labor market, financial system, infrastructure, business dynamics, application of new technologies, innovation capacity, etc.

Bulgaria’s score stands close to that of Romania, Uruguay and Bahrain, slightly improving compared to last year. In the overall ranking, however, the country retains the same position as in 2017, as some of the countries are improving faster.

Keeping its last year position, Bulgaria is ranked as the most competitive economy of the Balkans, outpacing Romania (52nd position), Greece (57th), Turkey (61st), Serbia (65th), Montenegro (71st), Albania (76th), Macedonia (84th) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (91st).  

The upward trend in our country was driven by digital services. In “Implementation of Information and Communication Technologies” Bulgaria is positioned 30th. The next highest score for our country is in “Capacity for Innovation”, where Bulgaria is 48th. We also ranked high in “Labor Market” – 50th, and “Macroeconomic Stability” – 52nd. Furthermore, Bulgaria takes a high position in terms of the “Infrastructure” criterion – 58th.

Bulgaria’s score in “Institutions” and “Health” remained lower, ranking 70th for both indicators.

The lowest are the indicators for “Organized crime” and “Protection of property rights”, “Effectiveness of the judicial system”, “Easy hiring of skilled workforce”, “Extent of staff training” and “Skills of the future workforce“.

This year, the ranking includes 140 countries from all around the world. The three most competitive countries are the United States with 85.6 points, Singapore with 83.5 and Germany with 82.8. Chad stands last with 35.5 points.

The full report of the World Economic Forum is available for download here.