List of countries by economic complexity

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This image displays the non-ubiquity of national exports.
Map and Scatterplot of Countries by Economic Complexity

This list orders countries by their Economic Complexity Index (ECI), as it was defined and calculated by César Hidalgo and Ricardo Hausmann and published by The Observatory of Economic Complexity.

Country rankings

Country Complexity Rankings[1]
Rank Country Economic complexity index (2018) Change in 5 years
(2013-18)
Change in 10 years
(2008-18)
1  Japan 2.43 Steady Steady
2  Switzerland 2.17 Increase 1 Increase 1
3  Republic of Korea 2.11 Increase 4 Increase 8
4  Germany 2.09 Decrease 2 Decrease 2
5  Singapore 1.85 Steady Decrease 1
6  Austria 1.81 Decrease 2 Increase 1
7  Czech Republic 1.80 Decrease 1 Increase 2
8  Sweden 1.70 Steady Decrease 3
9  Hungary 1.66 Steady Increase 5
10  Slovenia 1.62 Increase 3 Increase 3
11  United States 1.55 Increase 1 Increase 1
12  Finland 1.55 Increase 2 Decrease 1
13  United Kingdom 1.51 Decrease 2 Decrease 5
14  Italy 1.44 Decrease 2 Increase 3
15  Slovakia 1.41 Steady Increase 1
16  France 1.37 Decrease 2 Decrease 1
17  Ireland 1.36 Steady Decrease 7
18  China 1.34 Steady Increase 6
19  Romania 1.34 Steady Steady
20  Mexico 1.29 Increase 6 Increase 3
21  Israel 1.20 Decrease 1 Decrease 1
22  Belgium 1.18 Increase 2 Increase 9
23  Thailand 1.17 Steady Decrease 2
24  Poland 1.10 Decrease 3 Decrease 6
25  Denmark 1.09 Steady Increase 5
26  Malaysia 1.03 Increase 3 Increase 1
27  Netherlands 0.98 Steady Decrease 5
28  Estonia 0.96 Increase 2 Increase 4
29  Belarus 0.89 Decrease 7 Decrease 1
30  Croatia 0.87 Increase 1 Decrease 1
31  Lithuania 0.86 Increase 5 Increase 10
32  Spain 0.83 Decrease 4 Decrease 7
33  Portugal 0.80 Increase 1 Increase 1
34  Latvia 0.70 Increase 3 Increase 6
35  Philippines 0.67 Increase 3 Increase 10
36  Saudi Arabia 0.67 Increase 33 Increase 71
37  Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.67 Decrease 4 Increase 1
38  Serbia 0.67 Increase 1 Decrease 2
39  Canada 0.65 Increase 2 Steady
40  Turkey 0.64 Increase 2 Increase 2
41  Bulgaria 0.55 Decrease 1 Increase 5
42  India 0.54 Increase 10 Increase 8
43  Norway 0.44 Decrease 8 Decrease 8
44  Ukraine 0.37 Decrease 1 Steady
45  Lebanon 0.35 Steady Decrease 2
46  Tunisia 0.34 Decrease 2 Increase 8
47  Costa Rica 0.33 Increase 4 Increase 10
48  Bahrain 0.30 Increase 10 Increase 37
49  Brazil 0.21 Decrease 2 Decrease 1
50  Cyprus 0.18 Decrease 4 Decrease 24
51  Jordan 0.17 Decrease 1 Decrease 2
52  Vietnam 0.14 Increase 11 Increase 11
53  El Salvador 0.13 Increase 2 Increase 7
54  New Zealand 0.13 Decrease 5 Decrease 3
55  Greece 0.11 Increase 2 Decrease 3
56  Colombia 0.10 Increase 4 Decrease 3
57  North Macedonia 0.07 Increase 11 Increase 8
58  Trinidad and Tobago 0.05 Increase 24 Increase 23
59  Kyrgyzstan 0.04 Decrease 11 Increase 8
60  Uruguay 0.02 Decrease 6 Decrease 5
61  Indonesia 0.02 Increase 1 Increase 1
62  United Arab Emirates -0.01 Increase 18 Increase 6
63  South Africa -0.02 Decrease 7 Decrease 7
64  Russia -0.04 Increase 1 Decrease 3
65  Georgia -0.04 Decrease 1 Increase 21
66  Egypt -0.06 Increase 1 Increase 4
67  Eswatini -0.08 Decrease 6 Decrease 34
68  Tanzania -0.09 Increase 25 Increase 28
69  Mauritius -0.17 Decrease 3 Increase 3
70  Dominican Republic -0.18 Increase 4 Decrease 6
71  Moldova -0.18 Decrease 18 Decrease 13
72  Chile -0.18 Steady Increase 1
73  Argentina -0.21 Decrease 14 Decrease 14
74  Panama -0.24 Decrease 42 Decrease 37
75  Qatar -0.31 Increase 14 Increase 36
76  Albania -0.32 Increase 7 Steady
77  Kenya -0.34 Decrease 2 Increase 1
78  Sri Lanka -0.36 Decrease 1 Decrease 9
79  Armenia -0.39 Decrease 8 Decrease 32
80  Uzbekistan -0.41 Increase 18 Increase 9
81  Namibia -0.43 Decrease 3 Decrease 15
82  Guatemala -0.45 Decrease 9 Decrease 11
83  Oman -0.48 Increase 14 Increase 17
84  Botswana -0.48 Increase 11 Decrease 9
85  Mali -0.49 Increase 33 Decrease 8
86  Uganda -0.50 Decrease 2 Increase 5
87  Australia -0.53 Increase 3 Decrease 5
88  Burkina Faso -0.55 Increase 12 Increase 28
89  Paraguay -0.55 Decrease 2 Decrease 1
90  Cambodia -0.56 Increase 1 Increase 12
91  Morocco -0.56 Decrease 6 Decrease 4
92  Jamaica -0.58 Decrease 11 Decrease 18
93  Kazakhstan -0.59 Increase 16 Decrease 1
94  Zambia -0.62 Decrease 15 Increase 12
95  Senegal -0.63 Decrease 7 Decrease 2
96  Laos -0.63 Increase 12 Increase 5
97  Ethiopia -0.66 Increase 19 Increase 7
98  Honduras -0.67 Decrease 4 Decrease 1
99  Pakistan -0.68 Decrease 3 Decrease 20
100  Kuwait -0.70 Increase 19 Increase 33
101  Iran -0.71 Decrease 31 Increase 21
102  Togo -0.78 Decrease 16 Decrease 12
103  Ghana -0.80 Decrease 4 Increase 2
104  Peru -0.81 Decrease 12 Decrease 20
105  Nicaragua -0.84 Decrease 3 Decrease 7
106  Turkmenistan -0.84 Increase 11 Increase 2
107  Monaco -0.88 Increase 13 Increase 11
108  Bangladesh -0.88 Decrease 2 Decrease 14
109  Zimbabwe -0.93 Decrease 2 Decrease 26
110  Ivory Coast -0.96 Increase 1 Increase 5
111  Myanmar -0.97 Increase 4 Increase 6
112  Ecuador -0.97 Decrease 7 Decrease 13
113  Madagascar -1.01 Decrease 12 Decrease 18
114  Mauritania -1.03 Increase 18 Increase 13
115  Bolivia -1.04 Decrease 1 Decrease 12
116  Tajikistan -1.09 Decrease 4 Increase 3
117  Cuba -1.11 Decrease 41 Decrease 37
118  Malawi -1.12 Decrease 15 Decrease 6
119  Venezuela -1.14 Increase 2 Increase 1
120  Liberia -1.15 Decrease 16 Decrease 10
121  Mozambique -1.25 Decrease 8 Decrease 7
122  Algeria -1.31 Increase 7 Increase 2
123  Yemen -1.31 Decrease 1 Decrease 4
124  Azerbaijan -1.37 Increase 1 Decrease 3
125  Republic of the Congo -1.42 Increase 3 Increase 3
126  Gabon -1.43 Increase 4 Steady
127  Guinea -1.43 Decrease 4 Decrease 2
128  Libya -1.46 Increase 5 Increase 1
129  Cameroon -1.60 Decrease 19 Decrease 20
130  Papua New Guinea -1.68 Decrease 3 Decrease 3
131  Angola -1.71 Decrease 7 Steady
132  Democratic Republic of the Congo -1.80 Decrease 6 Decrease 9
133  Nigeria -1.90 Decrease 2 Decrease 3

Factors affecting differences between countries

As an illustration, we can observe the differences between Egypt and Thailand in ECI ranking between the years of 1995 and 2015, let us use the below figures as an example:

Rank Country ECI Value Year
45 Thailand 0.30 1995
75 Egypt -0.41 1995
24 Thailand 1.06 2015
68 Egypt -0.23 2015
  • Difference in 1995: 0.71 ECI points for Thailand
  • Difference in 2015: 1.28824 ECI points for Thailand
  • Increase for Egypt 1995-2015: 0.18037 ECI Points
  • Increase for Thailand 1995-2015: 0.7575 ECI Points

When we dig deeper into the export data of both countries, we can deduce that the differences were mainly in the composition of their relative export baskets. The more countries direct their efforts to more sophisticated products, the more it is reflected in the ECI score, and hence their potential economic growth.

For example, from 1995-2015, Thailand appears to have phased away from largely ubiquitous products “fur: 0.1 on the Product Complexity Index ("PCI"), Leather: 0.9 PCI, footwear: -0.7 PCI”, and focused their exports into products that few other countries can make “Cars: 2.47 PCI, parts and accessories of motor vehicles: 3.18 PCI, motor vehicles for transporting good: 1.87 PCI”.

Egypt, on the other hand, also experienced an increase in complexity, albeit much less than the one experienced by Thailand. They had a relatively high growth as a share of their total export portfolio in monitors and projectors: 0.9 PCI, but they also had a growth in insulated wires which has a PCI of -0.48.

So, in general, we can observe that Thailand has expanded in products with higher PCI than the ones they phased out from, while Egypt expanded in some higher PCI products, and also some lower ones hence the difference in ECI growth between the two.

For reference data, please go to https://oec.world/en/rankings/eci/hs6/hs96?tab=table

References

  1. ^ "Complexity rankingsThe Atlas of Economic Complexity". Harvard' Growth Lab Viz Hub. Retrieved 2020-10-31.