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See the full references list + How different metrics relate
Economic Complexity Index (ECI)
Source: Harvard Growth Lab — Atlas of Economic Complexity
The ECI measures the productive knowledge embedded in a country's economy, based on the diversity and sophistication of its export basket. Countries with high ECI scores produce a wide variety of complex goods that few others can replicate. We include this metric because it captures long-run competitive advantage and innovation capacity — two factors critical for businesses evaluating manufacturing bases and long-term market partners.
GDP per Capita
Source: The World Bank (indicator NY.GDP.PCAP.CD)
GDP per capita measures economic output divided by population, serving as a proxy for living standards and consumer purchasing power. We include it because it directly signals market potential and the relative cost of labor — both essential when deciding where to sell products or establish operations.
Average GDP Growth (2012–2022)
Source: The World Bank (indicator NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG)
This metric captures the average annual GDP growth rate over a ten-year window, smoothing out short-term volatility. We use it to identify economies with sustained momentum rather than one-off boom cycles, which is more relevant for long-term business planning than any single year's figure.
Total Trade (USD)
Source: Trading Economics / CEPII BACI Database
Total trade is the sum of a country's exports and imports in USD. It reflects openness to international commerce and integration into global supply chains. A high total trade value signals that a country is already embedded in international networks — lowering barriers and costs for businesses entering that market.
Gini Coefficient
Source: The World Population Review / World Bank
The Gini coefficient measures income inequality within a country, ranging from 0 (perfect equality) to 100 (maximum inequality). We include it because high inequality suppresses broad-based consumer demand, increases social instability, and raises political risk — all of which affect the viability of business operations. Lower Gini scores are rewarded in our scoring model.
Inflation Rate (CPI Year-over-Year)
Source: FRED — St. Louis Federal Reserve; IMF DataMapper API
Inflation measures the year-over-year change in consumer prices. Persistent high inflation erodes purchasing power, disrupts cost planning, and signals macroeconomic mismanagement. We include it because businesses expanding internationally are directly exposed to the inflationary environment of their target market, which affects real returns and pricing strategy.
Policy Interest Rate
Source: FRED; Banco Central de Bolivia; Bank of Canada; Banco Central de Chile; Banxico; BCP Paraguay
The policy interest rate is set by each country's central bank and ripples through borrowing costs across the entire economy. High rates raise the cost of capital for businesses and dampen investment activity. We include it because it directly affects the cost of financing local operations and expansion in a given market.
Mean Port Turnaround Time
Source: The World Bank — Supply Chain Tracking Data / CEIC
This metric measures the average number of days a vessel spends in port loading and unloading cargo. Shorter turnaround times reflect more efficient port operations and better logistics infrastructure. We include it because port efficiency is a direct cost driver for any business that imports or exports physical goods — delays translate immediately to higher costs and longer lead times.
Infrastructure Score
Source: World Economic Forum — Global Competitiveness Report
The infrastructure score aggregates the quality of a country's roads, railroads, ports, and utilities into a single composite. Strong infrastructure reduces logistics costs, improves supply chain reliability, and reflects a government's capacity for long-term capital investment. It is one of the most consequential factors for manufacturing and distribution businesses.
Logistics Performance Index (LPI)
Source: The World Bank — International LPI
The LPI is a composite score ranging from 1 to 5 that rates countries on customs efficiency, infrastructure quality, international shipments, tracking capability, and delivery timeliness. We include it because it provides a holistic, standardized view of how easy it is to move goods in and out of a country — a non-negotiable factor for any supply chain operation.
Domestic Value Added in Exports
Source: OECD Trade in Value Added (TiVA) Database
This metric measures what share of a country's exports were actually produced domestically, rather than assembled from imported components. A high share reflects genuine manufacturing capability and supply chain self-sufficiency. We include it to distinguish true production hubs from countries that are primarily re-exporters or assembly points.
Domestic Credit to Private Sector (% of GDP)
Source: The World Bank (indicator FS.AST.PRVT.GD.ZS)
This metric measures the financial resources channeled to the private sector — including loans, securities, and trade credits — as a share of GDP. Higher values indicate a more developed financial ecosystem with greater access to capital. We include it because access to local financing is critical for businesses looking to grow, partner, or invest in a given market.
Political Stability
Source: The Global Economy / World Bank Governance Indicators
Political stability measures the likelihood of government instability, civil unrest, and politically motivated violence, ranging from 0 to 100. We include it because political instability is one of the most commonly cited reasons businesses avoid or exit markets — it raises risk premiums, disrupts operations, and threatens property rights and contract enforcement.
Corporate Tax Rate
Source: PwC Tax Summaries
The corporate tax rate is the statutory rate applied to business profits in a given country. Lower rates reduce the tax burden on foreign investors and improve after-tax returns on investment. We include it because tax efficiency is a primary consideration in corporate location decisions, especially for businesses evaluating where to incorporate subsidiaries or establish regional headquarters.
Ease of Doing Business Score
Source: World Bank — Doing Business Project (2020)
This score aggregates the regulatory environment across ten dimensions including starting a business, obtaining permits, registering property, getting credit, and enforcing contracts. It ranges from 0 to 100. We include it because regulatory friction directly translates to time and money for businesses trying to enter or scale operations in a new market.
Credit Rating
Source: Finnhub — Country Metadata API
Sovereign credit ratings, assigned by agencies such as Moody's, S&P, and Fitch, reflect a country's ability to repay its debt obligations. They range from high-grade investment ratings (AAA, Aaa) to speculative or junk ratings (B, C). We include credit ratings because they serve as a standardized, globally recognized risk signal — a lower rating implies higher sovereign risk, which raises financing costs and creates greater operational uncertainty for foreign businesses.
Equity Risk Premium (ERP)
Source: Finnhub — Country Metadata API
The equity risk premium is the additional return investors expect from holding equities in a given country relative to a risk-free asset. A higher ERP signals that the market perceives the country as riskier. We include it because the ERP is one of the most widely used tools in corporate finance for calculating the cost of equity capital — a key input when evaluating whether expanding into a new market generates sufficient returns to justify the risk.
Stock Market 3-Year Return
Source: Trading Economics / National Stock Exchanges
This metric reflects the annualized return of each country's primary stock market index over a three-year period. We include it as a forward-looking proxy for investor confidence and economic momentum — markets that consistently reward equity investors tend to attract more foreign capital, signal institutional strength, and reflect a healthy business environment.
Human Capital Index (HCI)
Source: The World Bank (indicator HD.HCI.OVRL)
The HCI measures the productivity of the next generation of workers relative to a benchmark of complete education and full health, ranging from 0 to 1. We include it because the quality of the local labor force is a primary determinant of productivity, innovation capacity, and long-term competitiveness — particularly for businesses in knowledge-intensive or advanced manufacturing sectors.
Unemployment Rate
Source: The World Bank / Trading Economics
The unemployment rate measures the share of the labor force that is jobless and actively seeking work. We include it because persistently high unemployment signals weak domestic demand and economic distress, while extremely low unemployment can indicate tight labor markets and upward wage pressure. Both extremes have direct implications for business operating conditions and cost structures.
Population Growth
Source: The World Bank
Population growth measures the annual percentage change in a country's total population. Expanding populations grow the future labor force and consumer base, while shrinking populations create long-term demand contraction and workforce shortfalls. We include it as a proxy for the long-run market and labor trajectory of a country.
Exchange Rate (Display Only — Not Scored)
Source: FRED — St. Louis Federal Reserve
The exchange rate shows the value of a country's currency relative to the US dollar. We display it as contextual information because currency movements directly affect the real cost of imports, exports, and repatriated profits. We do not score it directly given its high short-term volatility and the complexity of currency hedging strategies that vary by business type.
Total Population (Display Only — Not Scored)
Source: The World Bank
Total population provides context for absolute market size. We display it alongside other demographic metrics to help users calibrate the scale of the opportunity in a given country, but do not score it directly since raw population without economic context can be misleading — a large but poor population presents very different opportunities than a smaller but affluent one.
1. Human capital is the strongest predictor of wealth.
Across all 193 countries in our dataset, the Human Capital Index shows the highest correlation with GDP per capita of any single metric. Companies looking to establish knowledge-intensive operations — R&D, engineering, financial services — should prioritize countries with HCI scores above 0.7, which are concentrated in Western Europe, North America, East Asia, and Oceania. Investing in a market with weak human capital creates a structural ceiling on productivity that is extremely difficult to overcome in the short run.
2. Political stability and logistics are inseparable.
The scatter plot of political stability vs. the Logistics Performance Index reveals a near-linear relationship — countries with high political instability almost universally underperform on logistics. This means that for supply chain-dependent businesses, political risk is not just a reputational concern but a direct operational cost driver. Businesses should treat political stability as a hard filter, not a soft preference, when selecting distribution hubs or manufacturing bases.
3. The business sweet spot is low tax + easy to operate.
The quadrant chart of corporate tax rate vs. ease of doing business reveals a clear cluster of high-performing business environments in the bottom-right quadrant: low corporate tax and high ease of doing business. Ireland, Singapore, the UAE, New Zealand, and Denmark consistently appear here. Companies establishing regional headquarters or holding structures should concentrate their search in this quadrant — the regulatory and tax efficiency compounds significantly over time.
4. Infrastructure rank and logistics rank frequently diverge.
The connected dot plot of LPI vs. Infrastructure Score reveals that several countries — notably South Africa, Norway, Spain, and Greece — have significant gaps between their infrastructure rank and their logistics performance rank. This divergence suggests that physical infrastructure alone does not guarantee supply chain efficiency. Soft factors such as customs quality, institutional reliability, and tracking capability matter enormously. Companies should not assume that a country's infrastructure score alone predicts how smoothly goods will actually move.
5. Inequality is a long-term market risk.
High Gini coefficients do not strongly predict GDP growth rates in our dataset — but they do signal fragility. Markets with extreme income inequality tend to experience more political volatility, weaker broad-based consumer demand, and higher social instability over time. Companies targeting consumer markets should be cautious about high-Gini countries even when short-term growth looks attractive — the addressable market may be far smaller than total population figures suggest.
6. The global corporate tax mean is 23.1% — and clustering is real.
The histogram of global corporate tax rates shows two dominant clusters: one around 20–25% and another around 28–30%. Very few countries operate below 10% or above 35%. This clustering reflects decades of tax competition between nations and suggests that the marginal benefit of choosing a 25% vs. a 20% jurisdiction is meaningful, but extreme tax havens carry reputational and regulatory risks that often outweigh the headline rate advantage. Companies should target the 15–22% band for the best balance of fiscal efficiency and institutional credibility.
7. Wealth and openness go together — but size does not.
The bubble chart of GDP per capita vs. LPI — with bubble size representing population — makes clear that the world's most logistically capable and wealthy countries are not necessarily the largest. Singapore, Denmark, Switzerland, and the Netherlands consistently outperform countries with vastly larger populations. For companies prioritizing supply chain efficiency and market quality over raw market size, smaller, wealthier, and well-governed markets offer disproportionate value.
Each dot is a country, colored by region. The dashed line shows the linear trend. Hover a dot to see details.
GDP per Capita vs Ease of Doing Business
Do wealthier countries make it easier to operate a business?
GDP per Capita vs Logistics Performance Index
Bubble size reflects population — do richer, larger nations move goods better?
Political Stability vs Logistics Performance
Does political stability drive better supply chain infrastructure?
Regional Metric Heatmap
Average performance across key metrics by world region. Green = high, red = low, normalized within each metric.
Gini Coefficient vs GDP Growth
Does inequality correlate with faster or slower economic growth?
Global Corporate Tax Rate Distribution
How are corporate tax rates spread across 193 countries? Red line shows the global mean.
Corporate Tax Rate vs Ease of Doing Business
Quadrant view — bottom-left is the business sweet spot: low tax and easy to operate.
LPI Rank vs Infrastructure Rank — Top 30 Countries
Connected dot plot showing each country's LPI Rank (teal) vs Infrastructure Rank (red). Gap between dots reveals mismatches.
Human Capital Index vs GDP per Capita
How strongly does education and health predict economic output?
Political Stability vs Ease of Doing Business
Bubble size reflects GDP per capita — do stable, wealthy nations have the least red tape?
Unemployment Rate vs GDP Growth (Okun's Law)
Does higher unemployment correlate with slower economic growth globally?
Global Business Expansion Weighted Score
Top 20 countries (population > 5M) ranked by their weighted score. Hover for details.