The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) is a global study on the basis of which ranking of countries in terms of economic competitiveness in the world is formed. The World Economic Forum defines competitiveness as the ability of the country and its institutions to ensure stable economic growth, which would be stable in the medium term. GCI is determined by numerous and very diverse factors which were divided into three subindexes: Basic requirements, Efficiency enhancers, Innovation and sophistication factors. The index is composed of 12 pillars of competitiveness. They are Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic Stability, Health and Primary Education, Higher Education and Training, Goods Market Efficiency, Labour Market Efficiency, Financial Market Sophistication, Technological Readiness, Market Size, Business Sophistication, Innovation.
According to overall index, Switzerland is the most competitive country in the world retaining leading position since 2008 after it outpaced United States which, in turn, worsened its position and moved from the first to the third place over the same period. While competitiveness is positively related to the wealth of the nation expressed through the GDP per capita, the relation between competitiveness and happiness seems to follow negative square pattern: middle level of competitiveness corresponds to the highest level of happiness.
Along with the index characterizing country's economic competitiveness (the Global Competitiveness Index) there are indexes assessing country's performance in innovation sphere and its subdivisions (Innovation Union Scoreboard, Knowledge Economy Index, Global Innovation Index).