Switzerland, Singapore and the top spot: who led the GTCI, 2013 to 2025

Which country is the most talent-competitive? For a decade the answer did not change. The 2021 report said it flatly: Switzerland, yet again, as it had been since the first index in 2013⁸. What is worth your time is how closely Singapore shadowed it, and how little separated them when the order finally flipped.

2013: a clear winner

The first edition ranked 103 countries. Switzerland scored 74.83, Singapore 70.34 and Denmark 68.93¹. That is a gap of 4.49 points, the second-widest of any edition that prints scores¹. The report credits Switzerland with high performance across virtually all variables of the model; its one soft spot was Attract, 18th on the input side¹.

Singapore was 2nd on the Input sub-index and 6th on Output¹. Only two non-European countries made that top ten, Singapore 2nd and the United States 9th¹. The pattern was set early: a European incumbent, an Asian challenger and the United States somewhere behind both.

2014 to 2017: the challenger closes in

By 2014 the sample had shrunk to 93 countries and the lead to 0.74 points, Switzerland on 71.46 and Singapore on 70.72, with Luxembourg third on 70.15². Four non-European countries were in the top ten: Singapore, the United States 4th, Canada 5th and Australia 9th².

The 2015-16 edition, 109 countries, kept the same top three, Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg³. It prints ranks only, so the gap cannot be measured, and the non-European part of the top ten shrank to Singapore, the United States 4th and Canada 9th³.

The race tightened most in 2017, across 118 countries: Switzerland 74.55, Singapore 74.09, a lead of 0.46 points, the narrowest before 2025 among editions that print scores^4,11. The United Kingdom followed on 69.40 and the United States on 69.34⁴. The report explains each leader’s route. Switzerland is best at retaining home-grown talent, helped by its regulatory, market, and business and labour landscapes; Singapore leads Enable and is the best at drawing talent from abroad⁴. Two strategies, almost one score. The full table is on the 2017 results page.

2018 to 2021: the same three on the podium

From 2018 to 2021 the top three were the same three countries, Switzerland, Singapore and the United States⁸. Only the margins moved.

The gap column is our subtraction of the two published scores. Read the table by rows, not down the score columns: each edition scores on its own model, so a score in one row cannot be set against a score in another¹¹. Singapore’s winning 73.29 in 2025 is lower than Switzerland’s 74.83 in 2013, which does not mean the leaders got worse; the scale moved with the model^1,11.

In 2018 Switzerland led Singapore and the United States over 119 countries⁵. In 2019, over 125, its lead grew to 4.55 points, wider even than in 2013^6,1.

Then came the one interruption. In 2020, over 132 countries, Switzerland stayed first but the United States took second on 79.09 to Singapore’s 78.48⁷. Singapore returned to second place in 2021, a spot it had held in every edition except the year before⁸. That edition ranked 134 countries⁸.

2022 and 2023: Denmark, then the old order

In 2022 the top three had no United States in it for the first time since 2017: Switzerland, Singapore, then Denmark, with the United States 4th⁹. Denmark’s 75.44 was within half a point of Singapore’s 75.80⁹. Over 133 countries that was the closest anyone came to breaking the pair.

In 2023 normal service resumed, with Switzerland first and Singapore and the United States following, the most common top three of the past decade¹⁰. The report called the top-ten list very steady over ten years, Switzerland and Singapore the clear leaders and the United States a leader to a lesser extent¹⁰. It ranked 134 countries¹⁰.

2025: Singapore on top

The index skipped 2024, a one-year pause the 2025 report describes as a period of reflection and renewal¹¹. It came back with a new partnership between INSEAD and the Portulans Institute and new measures, among them AI-related and soft skills, workforce resilience and employee wellbeing¹¹. The 2025 model has 77 indicators across 135 countries¹¹.

On the new model the order flipped. Singapore took first place for the first time since the index began, Switzerland fell to second and Denmark was third on 72.05¹¹. Singapore had been second in the three reports before^8,9,10.

What drove Singapore’s advance was mainly Retain, 31st, up from 38th, helped by gains in personal rights and physician density and by sustained excellence in personal safety¹¹. A 31st place is hardly a strength, and it was not what put Singapore first. Australia, 10th overall, and New Zealand, 18th, score higher on retaining talent. Singapore wins because it is far ahead on high-level skills, the Generalist Adaptive Skills pillar¹¹. That is a different victory from the Singapore of 2017, which led on Enable and attraction⁴. One caution from the same chapter: Singapore’s VT Skills slipped to 13th from 3rd¹¹.

The United States is the other story. It fell from 3rd in 2023 to 9th, outside the top five for the first time since 2013^11,10. China dropped to 53rd, after a climb from 47th to 40th between 2022 and 2023¹¹.

How much a margin is worth

The 2025 lead, 0.15 points, is the narrowest in the table above¹¹. That sounds decisive in a headline and means little in practice. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre audits each edition, and in 2025 country ranks stayed within three positions of the simulated median for 85 percent of countries¹¹. The audit does not say a 0.15-point lead is large or small in any single simulation. It does say two countries this close should not be treated as settled.

The same goes for 2017’s 0.46 and 2014’s 0.74: call them near ties. The 4.49 of 2013 and the 4.55 of 2019 were not^1,2,4,6. If you want to say a country led the index, point to an edition with a clear gap. If you want to say it topped an edition, give the edition and the score.

What to take from it

Name the edition, because “first in the 2025 edition” is a fact and “the most talent-competitive country” is not. Name how many countries were ranked, which moved from 103 in 2013 to 135 in 2025^1,11. Keep scores inside their own edition. For the ranking behind a single year, start with the 2017 results; for the structure the scores rest on, see what the index measures. The 2025 report, the 2017 report and the 2013 report are free to read, and the section hub, Rankings by edition, links the rest.