International benchmarks
Luxembourg's latest rankings:
Luxembourg Scores High in OECD Better Life Index
The OECD has published its Better Life Index with Luxembourg scoring highly throughout compared to the other 35 countries surveyed. The Grand Duchy ranks among the top countries in several topics.
The index shows that the average person in Luxembourg earns 35,321 USD annually, considerably higher than the OECD average of 22,387 USD and second highest overall. However, there is a considerable gap between the richest and poorest with the top 20% of the population earning more than four times as much as the bottom 20%.
In terms of employment, 65% of people (73% of men, 57% of women) aged 15-64 in Luxembourg have a paid job, slightly below the OECD employment average of 66%. Regarding job security, Luxembourg ranked 2nd out of 36 countries. People in Luxembourg work 1,616 hours a year, compared to the OECD average of 1,749 hours.
In education, 77% of adults (80% of men, 74% of women) aged 25-64 have earned the equivalent of a high-school degree, slightly higher than the OECD average of 74%.
In terms of health, life expectancy at birth in Luxembourg is almost 81 years (83 years for women, 78 years for men), one year higher than the OECD average of 80 years.
The level of atmospheric PM10 – tiny air pollutant particles small enough to enter and cause damage to the lungs – is 13 micrograms/m3, considerably lower than the OECD average of 22 micrograms/m3 and was ranked 5th out of 36 countries. Luxembourg also does well in terms of water quality, as 92% of people say they are satisfied with the quality of their water.
Concerning the public sphere, there is a strong sense of community and high levels of civic participation in Luxembourg, where 95% of people believe that they know someone they could rely on in time of need, higher than the OECD average of 91%. Voter turnout, a measure of public trust in government and of citizens' participation in the political process, was 91% during recent elections, much higher than the OECD average of 73%.
In general, people in Luxembourg are more satisfied with their lives than the OECD average, with 74% of people saying they have more positive experiences in an average day (feelings of rest, pride in accomplishment, enjoyment, etc.) than negative ones (pain, worry, sadness, boredom, etc.). This figure is slightly higher than the OECD average of 72%.
Luxembourg scored as follows (out of 10):
• Housing: 6.1
• Income: 8.1
• Jobs: 8.5
• Community: 8.4
• Education: 4.7
• Environment: 9.2
• Civic Engagement: 6.6
• Health: 7.9
• Life Satisfaction: 7.4
• Safety: 7.9
• Work-life Balance: 7.5
Source: OECD Better Life Index
http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/luxembourg/
WEF: Global Competitiveness Report 2012-13
According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2012-13 just published by the World Economic Forum, Luxembourg ranks 22nd out of 114 countries.
The Grand Duchy scores highly in technological readiness, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, with specific strengths in property rights (ranked 4th), organised crime (2nd), prevalence of foreign ownership (1st), buyer sophistication (3rd), affordability of financial services (3rd), infant mortality (3rd), staff training (4th), regulation of security exchange (4th) and individuals using the Internet (5th).
Switzerland retained top spot in the table for the fourth year in a row, with Singapore also staying in second. Finland jumps ahead of Sweden to take 3rd place.
The introduction to the report addresses the issues of economic uncertainty and weak recovery with fiscal tightening dampening the growth outlook.
The twelve pillars of competitiveness were identified as institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.
Luxembourg improves one position compared to the previous edition of the Global Competitiveness Report.
For more information, go to:
www.weforum.org/issues/global-competitiveness
UBS Prices and Salaries 2012
Every three years, UBS CIO WM Research publishes an extensive study on prices and earnings, which is updated in the years between editions. Since 1970 the UBS publication has compared purchasing power in various cities around the globe, and contains interesting analyses and evaluations of changes in exchange rates and inflation. The latest edition of Prices and Earnings covers 72 cities in 58 countries.
Regarding price levels, Luxembourg is ranked 7th at 94.4, below Oslo in 1st position at 116.0, Zurich, Tokyo, Geneva, Copenhagen and New York.
Luxembourg's purchasing power (in terms of net hourly pay) is ranked #3 at 116.2, just below Zurich at 120.3 and Sydney at 117.2.
Luxembourg residents spend on average 3,716 USD per month on goods and services, with an average food basket monthly outlay of 525 USD. Luxembourg's shopping index is 154.2 (compared to New York's 100) and electrical appliance index is 117.7.7 (compared to New York's 100).
Real estate costs are normalised at 5,440 USD per m2. In the wage comparison index, Luxembourg is at 34.3 USD/hour (gross).
UBS Prices and Salaries 2012
Source: UBS (2012) Calculs: Observatoire de la compétitivité
Source: http://www.odc.public.lu/actualites/2012/09/UBS_prix_et_salaires_
2012/index.html
Luxembourg rises to 11th in Global Innovation Index 2012
Over the past few months, economic policy discussions have focussed primarily on the implementation of austerity measures in order to balance public finances. Recently, the strategy has increasingly been questioned and criticised in public debate, with economic policy focussing on how to achieve sustainable growth in the long term.
Innovation is a crucial aspect on determining economic growth in this context and various indicators are needed to assess the innovative capacity and policies implements. INSEAD, in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), has just published the 2012 Global Innovation Index (GII) study results.
It focusses particularly on the interaction between the various agents of the innovation system across 141 countries world-wide, namely business, public sector, higher education and society. The GII composite index is calculated based on two sub-indicators: inputs (institutional, human resources and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and sophistication of the business environment) and outputs (knowledge and technology, creativity) of the innovation system.
Switzerland tops the world ranking, followed by Sweden and Singapore, Luxembourg is ranked 11th - 14th in inputs (5th in sophistication of the business environment) and 10th in outputs (6th in creativity) - ahead of neighbouring countries (Germany 15th, Belgium 20th, France 24th). In the European category, Luxembourg is ranked 8th.
Luxembourg has risen six places in the world ranking, from 17th in 2011.
Source: http://www.odc.public.lu/actualites/2012/07/Insead_global_innovation_
index_2012/index.html
IMD WORLD COMPETITIVENESS YEARBOOK
Fast forward your competitiveness!
The Swiss IMD Institute has released the 2011 edition of its annual report on competitiveness, the World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY). In this new edition, 59 countries are analyzed along 300 criteria. These criteria are both quantitative and qualitative and gathered from an opinion survey from various business decision makers. Analysis of the WCY is based on four main criteria: economic performance, government efficiency, environmental performance and infrastructure. In Luxembourg, the IMD survey is coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce.
The 2011 ranking is led by Hong Kong, followed by the United States and Singapore. Luxembourg occupies position 11 in the overall ranking of the 59 countries analyzed. Luxembourg holds as such the same ranking as in the previous report.
In the 2011 edition, the neighboring countries of Luxembourg i.e. Germany ranks 10th, Belgium 23rd and France 29th.
http://www.imd.org/research/publications/wcy/index.cfm