The Global Competitiveness Report 1999

Since 1979, the World Economic Forum, a foundation based in Geneva, has produced annual reports on the relative competitiveness of countries (the term "country" as used in this report covers well-defined, geographically self-contained areas that are not states but for which statistical data are maintained on a separate and independent basis), tracing the extraordinary development of the world economy during the last twenty years. "The Global Competitiveness Report" uses a research-based Competitiveness Index, in which, rankings of relevant economies are given on a multitude of business and economic factors. From its inception, the Report has furnished specific competitive information on the world's key economies (59 this year), now presented with two page profiles for each economy. These profiles provide: major performance indicators; each economy's rank in competitiveness; and highlights of particular strengths and weaknesses. Each year the Report becomes an ever more refined analytical tool for exploring the exponential expansion of interconnections in our global economy.