Singapore retains #2 spot on INSEAD's global talent competitiveness index

SINGAPORE has retained its second place position on INSEAD's annual Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI), behind Switzerland.

The study, released on Tuesday, measures a nation's competitiveness based on the quality of talent that it can produce, attract and retain.

As in the previous study, GTCI rankings in 2014 were dominated by European countries, with only six non-European countries in the top 20: Singapore (2), the United States (4), Canada (5), Australia (9), New Zealand (16) and Japan (20).

Bruno Lanvin, executive director of Global Indices at INSEAD, and co-author of the report, commented: "It's really quite striking that among the top three countries - Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg - two are landlocked and one is an island. Faced with specific geographical challenges and a quasi-absence of natural resources, these countries have had no choice but to be open economies - a critical ingredient to being talent competitive."