The Global Competitiveness Index evaluates a country’s progress towards the fourth industrial revolution by measuring different economic factors that determine its level of productivity. The GCI report ranks 141 countries across 12 sub-indices: institutions, infrastructure, ICT adoption, macroeconomic stability, health, skills, product and labour market, financial system, market size, business dynamism, and innovation capability. The data for calculating the index is derived from 103 indicators, out of which 70% are based on hard data, and 30% is based on surveys. Pakistan’s performance on the index stands at 110th out of 141 countries.
The report also categorises individual country’s progress based on different phases. The first phase is factor-driven which implies that the economy is early in its path. The second stage is efficiency-driven, followed by innovation-driven. Currently, Pakistan is in a factor-driven stage, which implies that most of the workforce is unskilled, and the economy derives most of its exports from natural resources. The low productivity is reflected in low wages, and the competitiveness relies on well-functioning public and private institutions, infrastructure, stable macroeconomic framework, good health and primary education.
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