Hong Kong was ranked as the second-most competitive economy globally after Singapore in the latest world competitiveness ranking, rising for the third consecutive year since 2023 and gaining its highest position since 2019.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region rose one spot to second place globally out of 70 economies in the World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) 2026 released on Thursday by the Switzerland-based business school International Institute for Management Development (IMD).
Hong Kong recorded an overall score of 95.6 out of 100 in the ranking. Singapore claimed the top spot on the list with a score of 100, while Switzerland, last year’s leader, finished just behind Hong Kong at 95.3 points.
The overall performance was evaluated from four primary pillars. Hong Kong retained the second place in government efficiency, slipped one position to third in business efficiency and eighth in infrastructure, and dropped from sixth to 11th in economic performance.
At the sub-factor level, the city achieved the strongest results in tax policy and business legislation under the government efficiency pillar, topping the global rankings in both areas.
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The IMD said Hong Kong has to navigate intensifying geopolitical tensions and shifting global trade and investment flows to capture emerging opportunities.
Such opportunities include leveraging Hong Kong’s unique role as a superconnector, harnessing innovation to accelerate artificial intelligence-driven industrial transformation, and developing the Northern Metropolis to expand the city’s economic capacity and position it as a strategic platform for deeper integration of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
In the long run, the SAR has to address its aging population by enhancing workforce vitality and productivity, the IMD added
The top five most competitive economies in the world listed in WCY 2026 were Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, Switzerland, Taiwan, and United Arab Emirates.
"Amid rapidly evolving geopolitical dynamics, Hong Kong, with its close connectivity to both the Chinese mainland and the world under the 'One Country, Two Systems' principle, and its sound institutions, open markets and sustained investments in innovation, has become a 'value hub' that offers both security and growth opportunities,” a government spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday.
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The spokesperson added that as the SAR government is formulating its first Five-Year Plan to proactively align with the National 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), the administration will work together with all sectors of society to gather views on how to better integrate into and serving the overall national development, achieve the city’s own high-quality development, create more new room for development, as well as open up new opportunities for global investors and enterprises.
Hong Kong had been once again ranked as the world’s freest economy in 2025 by Canadian public policy think tank Fraser Institute. Among the five areas of assessment, Hong Kong retained the top position in "freedom to trade internationally", while securing the third position in "sound money" and "regulation".
Frank Feng contributed to this story
