The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently presented the Global Competitiveness Report 2019 with The Netherlands once again holding first place in Europe when it comes to the quality of its transport infrastructure.
In this year’s edition, the Dutch also top the European board when it comes to economic competitiveness.
The WEF survey scores countries on 103 criteria to determine the relative competitiveness of their economy. In the most recent ranking, the Netherlands has overtaken Switzerland and Germany – achieving the highest score of all countries in Europe. In a global comparison, the Dutch only have to cede to Singapore, the US and Hong Kong.
One of the categories assessed in the survey is transport infrastructure. This assessment focuses on various aspects of a country’s road and rail networks and maritime and aviation sectors. The Netherlands holds second place in the global ranking, behind Singapore. The country earns particularly high marks when it comes to efficiency of seaport and airport services and quality of the road infrastructure.
Other pillars in which the Dutch economy stands out from the crowd are macroeconomic stability and business dynamism. The macroeconomic score of the Netherlands is actually the highest worldwide. WEF said as far as business dynamism is concerned, the story is United States first, the Netherlands second.
Last year, the WEF introduced a new structure for its report. All editions up to and including the 2017 report specifically evaluated countries’ individual port infrastructures. The Netherlands consistently topped this category – six years in a row.
