On 28 October, the Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) Business School published their Global Competitiveness Index. The index measures countries’ ability to compete for talent every year. Azerbaijan was ranked 43rd, Armenia 61st and Georgia 76th in this year’s report. 

Talent competitiveness is defined as a set of policies and practices that enable a country to develop, attract, and empower the human capital that contributes to productivity and prosperity. The Global Talent Competitiveness Index Report is calculated based on six indicators, including conditions created for talent, attracting talent, talent development, provision of talent’s stay in the country, vocational and technical education, and higher specialties. Each of these indicators has a group of its own sub-indicators. 

Analysed in depth, Azerbaijan ranked highly in vocational and technical education (25th), and the poorly in talent development (81st). Armenia also had a strong ranking in vocational and technical education (50th) and low rank in talent development (101st). Georgia ranked highly in the conditions created for talents (52nd) and poorly in talent development (107th). ). Azerbaijan is the only country from the South Caucasus which increased its overall score in 2019 compared to 2018, while Armenia’s and Georgia’s scores dropped.  

As for the Caucasus’ neighbouring countries, Russia ranked 49th, Turkey 74th and Iran 97th.  The best ranked countries were Switzerland, Singapore, United States and Norway. The worst ranked countries in this year’s report were Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Mozambique. Germany ranked 14th in this year’s index.   

The INSEAD Business School is a graduate business school with campuses in Europe (Fontainebleau), Asia (Singapore), and the Middle East (Abu Dhabi). It is consistently ranked among the world's top business schools. The Index was made in cooperation with Tata Communications, an Indian telecommunications company, and the Adecco Group, the world's largest Human Resources provider and temporary staffing firm in the world (Switzerland).