Estonia did not improve its international competitiveness ranking last year
The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne has once again published its annual international competitiveness assessment. Estonia placed 33rd out of 69 countries, the same position as last year. However, Latvia and Lithuania made significant gains in the table, the Estonian Institute of Economic Research reported.
Commenting on the results, Peeter Raudsepp, director of the Estonian Institute of Economic Research, said the ranking is a recognition of Estonian entrepreneurs, whose efforts have led to an improvement in Estonia's position in the area of business efficiency.
"When looking at competitiveness rankings across the different factor categories, we see that Estonia's position has declined in both the economic performance and government efficiency categories, while infrastructure remained unchanged. The only improvement was in the business efficiency category, which confirms that our people hold strong values and our companies are well managed even in difficult times," he said.
Although holding onto the same position in the rankings may seem positive, Raudsepp noted that in comparison to neighboring countries — which share the same uncertain environment — Estonia's result amounts to stagnation.
"Today we need to ask ourselves what we have done wrong. Sharing the same economic space and facing similar challenges, Estonia's competitiveness has been declining for years, while Latvia's and Lithuania's have been rising," Raudsepp said.
Lithuania climbed nine places from last year to reach 21st, while Latvia rose seven places to 38th.
"The Baltic states have had the potential to significantly improve their competitiveness, but we have not been part of that progress," Raudsepp observed.
Among Estonia's key trading partners, Sweden ranked eighth (down two places), Finland 15th (up one) and Germany 19th (up five).
Looking at year-over-year changes in national competitiveness, the biggest climbers were Malaysia (up 11 spots), Lithuania (up 9), Canada (up 8) and Latvia (up 7). The largest declines were seen in Indonesia (down 13), Turkey (down 13), Poland (down 11) and South Korea (down 7).
IMD has been conducting its international competitiveness assessment since 1984. In 2025, 69 countries were included. The assessment was based on 2024 statistical data and a survey of business executives conducted at the beginning of 2025. The Estonian Institute of Economic Research has been IMD's partner institution since 2001.
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Editor: Mirjam Mäekivi, Marcus Turovski
