Kazakhstan Surpasses Japan, Climbs to 34th in Global Competitiveness

Kazakhstan has climbed to 34th place in the 2025 World Competitiveness Ranking.

This marks an improvement of one position from last year and sees Kazakhstan surpass Japan (35th), Kuwait (36th), and Portugal (37th) for the first time, The Caspian Post informs via Kazakh media.

The top three countries in the ranking are Switzerland, Singapore, and Hong Kong, followed by Denmark, the UAE, Taiwan, Ireland, Sweden, Qatar, and the Netherlands.

Among the most notable movers this year are Canada (+8, now 11th), Lithuania (+9, 21st), and Malaysia (+11, 23rd), while Indonesia and Türkiye recorded the largest declines, each falling 13 places.

The IMD World Competitiveness Ranking evaluates 69 countries based on four key pillars: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure.

In related news, Bangkok was recently named the world’s best city for Generation Z.