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International Ranking

  • 12th ranking among the 144 countries in Global Competitiveness Report, according to WEF
  • 7th ranking among the 121 countries in Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index
  • The 3rd rank in overall investment environment in overall investment environment by BERI
  • The 13th rank in IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook
  • The 1st rank achieved in entrepreneurship in IMD report
  • The 16th most improved economy for Ease Doing Business.

International Rating

The World Economic Forum (WEF) released its Global Competitiveness Report 2013 on Sep. 4, 2013. Taiwan retained its 12th ranking among the 148 countries/economies and ranked 4th among all Asian economies covered in the report.

Furthermore, Taiwan managed to remain within the world's top 10 percent, indicating its competitiveness remains solid amid signs of a slowdown in the global economic recovery.

In addition, the World Economic Forum (WEF) categorizes countries into three stages of development; factor-driven, efficiency-driven and innovation-driven based on the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Taiwan is categorized as a country in innovation-driven economy. According to the 2013 Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI), Taiwan ranked globally No. 1 in entrepreneurship aspiration. Of the 14 other categories, it finished first in product innovation, second in high growth and third in process innovation. This indicated the strength of innovation and research and development of Taiwan has the certain advantage in the global market.

The GEDI, first compiled for 2011 by the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute, measures and ranks the global entrepreneurship. According to the preliminary GEDI 2014 report published in September 2013 by the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute, Taiwan took 7th place among 121 countries. Taiwan's ranking improved two places from the 2013 results and of three places from the 2012 results. Overall, the United States dominated the 2014 index, followed by Canada, Australia, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland. The index placed Taiwan first in Asia for the third year running, ahead of Singapore, 11th; South Korea, 33rd; Hong Kong, 35th; Japan, 36th; and China, 47th.

Table 1 Top Ten Countries in Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index
Country 2013 2014
United States 1 1
Canada 5 2
Australia 4 3
Sweden 2 4
Denmark 3 5
Switzerland 8 6
Taiwan 9 7
Finland 16 8
Netherlands 6 9
United Kingdom 14 10

Table 2 GEDI Ranking for Premier Asian Nations(2013~2014年)
Country 2014 2013 Entrepreneurial Attitudes* Entrepreneurial Ability* Entrepreneurial Aspirations*
rank rank point rank point rank point rank point
Taiwan 7 9 0.55 17 0.49 17 0.54 1 0.63
Singapore 11 13 0.53 27 0.43 13 0.58 3 0.56
Japan 36 35 0.35 73 0.27 22 0.45 36 0.33
Hong Kong 35 38 0.34 52 0.35 61 0.27 21 0.41
South Korea 33 43 0.34 36 0.39 59 0.27 33 0.34
Malaysia 45 56 0.27 58 0.32 39 0.35 79 0.14
China 47 59 0.26 62 0.31 95 0.17 40 0.31
Thailand 65 64 0.24 83 0.24 45 0.31 64 0.18
India 76 89 0.18 89 0.22 76 0.21 92 0.10


In its third "Report on the Evaluation of Environmental Risks of Investment" for 2013, issued in December, Business Environment Risk Intelligence (BERI) ranked Taiwan's "Profit Opportunity Recommendation" third-best among the 50 major countries covered, after only Singapore and Switzerland, with an overall score of 72 (compared with 73 in the previous report, which also placed Taiwan third).

The report gave Taiwan's investment environment a grade of 1B, with a continued recommendation to invest. BERI pointed out that the island is continuing to strengthen its external economic and trade relations, especially through the promotion of free trade agreements, and relations with mainland China are expected to remain friendly over the next five years. BERI predicted that Taiwan would retain its 3rd-place ranking, and that its overall score would rise to 73, during the 2014-2018 period.

Taiwan performed especially well in the field of operations risk, ranking 2nd in the world after only Singapore. BERI noted that although the island's economic growth momentum is being held back by weak private consumer demand, warming exports are expected to stimulate economic recovery in 2014. The organization predicted that Taiwan's financial sector will maintain growth momentum in 2014 and 2015, with most banks enjoying a healthy structure and stable profits. The island's operating risk, BERI predicted, will continue to rank 2nd in 2014-2018.

The BERI report lists Taiwan as a country with low political risk-the 10th-lowest in the world and 2nd-lowest in Asia, behind only Singapore. BERI believes that the island's political risk will continue developing in a positive direction, and that its ranking will improve to 9th-lowest in 2014 and 8th-lowest in 2018.

Taiwan did even better in the "Remittance and Repatriation Factor" index, ranking tops in the world. In its report, BERI pointed out that Taiwan has a healthy trade and current account surplus; its trade surplus totaled US$28.244 billion in the first 10 months of 2013 and its current account surplus for the whole year was projected to reach US$55.775 billion, exceeding the US$48.882 recorded in 2012. In addition, the island's rosy economic prospects will continue to attract foreign investment over the coming two years, and BERI expects the amount of FDI to continue climbing in the future. BERI took special note of the Ministry of Economic Affairs' efforts to promote the establishment of Asia-Pacific regional headquarters in Taiwan by foreign enterprises, with increasing numbers of them doing so. BERI predicted that Taiwan will maintain its "Remittance and Repatriation Factor" ranking as best in the world in 2014, falling to 3rd place in 2018.

According to the 2014 World Competitiveness Yearbook unveiled by IMD, Taiwan ranked 13th in terms of competitiveness among the 60 countries surveyed and was the 4th place in Asia, behind Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. A perusal of this year's IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook shows that Taiwan has risen two spots in Economic Performance, indicating relatively good economic growth, stable prices, and low unemployment. Taiwan also performed well in sub-factors including Fiscal Policy, Productivity and Efficiency, and Technological Infrastructure, showing that the government's low-tax, low-regulation approach has paid off and dedication to encouraging R&D development, the export of hi-tech products, and protecting intellectual property rights has borne fruit.

Taiwan was rated the world's 16th-easiest place to do business in a World Bank 2014annual report released Oct 29th 2013. Eleventh in a series of annual reports comparing business regulations in 189 economies, the World Bank's "Doing Business 2014" report measures regulations affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity -- starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and employing workers.

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