Taiwan is the 23rd best economy in the world in terms of attracting, developing and retaining top talent for the second consecutive year, according to Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD).
 
The result, which is contained in the latest World Talent Ranking released Nov. 20 by IMD’s World Competitiveness Center, puts the country third in Asia behind Hong Kong and Singapore. Top spot in the annual 63-economy survey went to Switzerland followed by Denmark and Belgium.
 
Of the three main categories used to assess an economy’s performance, Taiwan finished 22nd in Readiness, 25th in Investment and Development and 26th in Appeal.
 
Strong showings were recorded in the subcategories of educational assessment, second, science in schools, 10th, and student mobility inbound, 12th, under Readiness; employee training, 10th, and health infrastructure, 12th, under Investment and Development; and effective personal income tax rate, ninth, under Appeal.
 
Weaker performances took place in language skills, 36th, and labor force growth, 34th, under Readiness; total public expenditure on education, 46th, and secondary education pupil-teacher ratio, 45th, under Investment and Development; and brain drain and cost of living index, both 47th, and foreign highly skilled personnel, 44th, under Appeal.
 
According to the report, the other economies comprising the top 10 were Austria in fourth trailed by Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Sweden and Luxembourg. By comparison, Asian powerhouses Japan, South Korea and mainland China finished 31st, 39th and 40th, respectively.
 
IMD attributed the dominance of the European countries to substantial investment in education complemented by high-quality primary, secondary and tertiary schooling. (SFC-E)