INSEAD and Portulans Institute’s 2025 Global Talent Competitiveness Index ranks Singapore at the top.
Calvin Cheung Wai Meng | E+ | Getty Images
Singapore achieved the top spot in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) for the first time in 2025, underpinned by a robust education system, sound governance and proactive approach to maintaining an adaptable and innovation-ready workforce in the age of artificial intelligence.
The index, now in its 11th year, was created by the INSEAD business school in partnership with the Portulans Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, and measures how countries grow and attract and retain talent across all income groups.
This year’s report, themed “Resilience in Times of Disruption,” ranked 135 countries around the world based on 77 indicators, including soft skills across six pillars and concentration of AI talent.
The report comes at a time when “rapid technological change, geopolitical uncertainty and profound societal change make reliable talent metrics more important than ever,” said Rafael Escalona Reynoso, CEO of the Portulance Institute.
Historians can give us more perspective, but it certainly feels as if we are living in a time of greatest turmoil and anxiety.
lily fang
INSEAD Research and Innovation Director
Lily Huang, Dean of Research and Innovation at INSEAD, said: “Historians can give us additional perspective, but it certainly feels like we are living in a time of greatest turmoil and anxiety.” “Geopolitical uncertainty poses significant challenges to the resilience of global commerce and markets, but while artificial intelligence presents incredible opportunities to enhance human potential, it also poses immense risks.”
The top 10 countries in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index for 2025 are:
Singapore Switzerland Denmark Finland Sweden Netherlands Norway Luxembourg America Australia
What is noteworthy is that Switzerland has been overtaken by Singapore and has fallen from the top spot for the first time in GTCI history. However, the country recorded multiple top-five results across the research framework, including internet access in schools (1st place), government effectiveness (2nd place), and AI skills transfer (4th place).
High-income European countries continue to dominate the rankings, accounting for seven of the top 10 countries.
Switzerland, Denmark and Finland are closely tied in the top 10, the report said, “suggesting a shared focus on developing and retaining talent through favorable conditions and access to opportunities.” These three countries consistently rank near the top in finding and retaining talent.
Since the last GTCI in 2023, several Nordic countries have moved up within the top 10. Denmark moved up one place to third place this year from fourth place in the 2023 report, Finland moved up two places from sixth to fourth place, and Sweden moved up four places to fourth place this year from ninth place in 2023.
Meanwhile, the United States fell from third place in 2023 to ninth place in this year’s report, its lowest ranking since 2013.
The report said the United States scored highly in areas such as workforce development and development, but fell to ninth place in 2025 due to “slight declines in openness and lifelong learning.”
Singapore takes the lead
Singapore’s rise marks a major milestone for both the country and the wider region in the race for talent, the report said.
According to the report, the city-state “ranked in the top 10 in four of the six pillars and made significant improvements in talent retention, moving up seven places.” The Southeast Asian country also leads the world in finding and retaining talent, thanks to its regulatory situation and high standard of living.
The country also ranks first in the world for formal education and “generalist adaptive skills,” which span soft skills, digital literacy and innovation-oriented thinking.
A key driver of Singapore’s rise this year has been its rapidly improving ability to retain talent, moving up seven places from 38th in 2023 to 31st this year. The report noted improvements in areas such as physician density, individual rights, and personal safety.
Paul Evans, professor emeritus of organizational behavior at INSEAD and co-editor of the report, said: “Economies that are adaptable and develop a cross-sector, AI-savvy workforce tend to be better placed to turn disruption into opportunity and maintain long-term competitiveness.”
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