Global Best To Invest 2022

Global Best to Invest rankings showcase the top countries and metro areas in terms of their outlook for corporate investment. This year’s edition is based on an updated index modified from past years in order to infuse the rankings with relevant sources of fresh data.

The country rankings were present by five world regions — in cumulative and per-capita terms — based on the following sources:

• Conway Data Projects Data 2017-2021

• Milken Institute Global Opportunity Index 2021 (business perception rank and overall rank)

• UN Development Program Human Development Index

• IMD World Competitiveness Rankings

• OECD Inward FDI 2020 (FDI)

• Frontier Tech Readiness Index 2021 (UNCTAD)

Next come the Global Best to Invest Top Metro Areas, presented with their respective regional and local economic development organizations (or the home country’s IPA as a proxy). This year’s rankings are based on an index derived from the following three sources:

• Conway Data Projects Data 2017-2021

• Kearney Global Cities Report 2021

• Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021 (Startup Genome)

Released in January, Milken Institute’s Global Opportunity Index is one part of Global Best to Invest index. It evaluates 126 countries across seven geographic regions and 100 variables to measure their potential attractiveness to foreign investors. Among key findings this year:

• Sweden maintained its No. 1 rank from 2021 as the country with the most potential to attract foreign investment, followed by the UK at No. 2 and Denmark at No. 3.

• Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia took the top spots in emerging Southeast Asia. Malaysia received the highest ranking in the region due to its strong performance across all categories measured. Vietnam and the Philippines rounded out the top five countries in emerging Southeast Asia, in that order.

• “New this year, the Global Opportunity Index added seven environmental, social, and governance (ESG) variables, including CO2 emissions and the proportion of women in government positions,” the report said. “These variables have been included to reflect the growing appetite of investors to incorporate ESG data into business decisions.”

Poland reached 1st rank in best to invest per Metros and top 5 in best to invest per capita.