Nigeria Improves to 115th Position on Global Competitiveness Index

• Ranks 156th on life expectancy

Chinedu Eze

Nigeria was ranked 115th in the 2018 Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which was released wednesday.

A new scientific study has also ranked Nigeria 156th among 195 countries, according to a report published wednesday in the international medical journal, The Lancet.

The country’s latest position on global competitiveness index was a significant improvement, compared with the 125th position it was placed in 2017.

Nigeria was ranked 127th on the 2016 index.

In the report that surveyed 140 countries, Nigeria scored 47.6 out of a total score of 100.

The new Global Competitiveness Index 4.0, which measures national competitiveness, defined it as the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productively of a country.

The report looked at 98 indicators across 140 countries to determine the overall ranking and to signify how close an economy is to the ideal state or “frontier” of competitiveness.

The 12 pillars that were analysed were health, skills, financial system, infrastructure, institutions, ICT adoption, macroeconomic stability, product market, labour market, market size, business dynamism and innovation capacity.

Nigeria scored 42 in the institution indicator, 42 in infrastructure, 26 in ICT adoption, 56 in macroeconomic stability, 51 in health and 40 in skills.

It was also scored 52, 59, 44, 71, 55 and 31 in product market, labour market, financial system, market size , business dynamism and innovation capacity, respectively.

Generally, it noted that the economic prospects of Africa was at crossing point as the average GDP growth of the region has fallen below five per cent since 2015 and was expected to grow at 3.4 per cent in 2018.

“After having benefitted from a period of fast growth driven by strong foreign demand and high commodity prices, economies in the region need to strengthen their fundamentals to become more resilient to commodity price shocks and to compete successfully in the technology-driven global economy.

In a related development, a new scientific study has ranked Nigeria 156th among 195 countries, according to a report published yesterday in the international medical journal.

The study indicated that Nigerians may increase life expectancy of additional 10 years with improved healthcare system.

The report also showed that if the healthcare system does not improve, the life expectancy of Nigerians may depreciate.

The study said the rankings of nations’ life expectancies have offered new insights into the health status of citizens of these countries.

The study indicated that Nigeria, with an average life expectancy of 65.0 years in 2016, ranked 156th among 195 nations.

It however, noted that if the recent health trends continue, it could rise to 123rd in 2040 with an average life expectancy of 74.8 years, an increase of 9.8 years.

Nigeria’s life expectancy could increase by as much as 14.2 years in a better health scenario or as little as 5.1 years in a worse health scenario.

In contrast, the United States in 2016 ranked 43rd with an average lifespan of 78.7 years.