Tag: World Economic Forum

‘Africa needs fertility management’

Bill and the many natives
Bill and the many natives

Stopping overpopulation is one way the dangers of climate change can be mitigated, according to two of the most prominent believers in global warming.

Former Vice President Al Gore and Microsoft founder Bill Gates said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that contraception is a key in controlling the proliferation of unusual weather they say is endangering the world.

“Depressing the rate of child mortality, educating girls, empowering women and making fertility management ubiquitously available … is crucial to the future shape of human civilization,” said Gore, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his work on global warming.

Gore said Africa’s population is expected to surpass India’s and China’s by the mid-21st century and will be more than both combined by the end of the century.

Source: CNBC

Zuma praises Charlize

Charlize Theron meets the President and his wife

President Jacob Zuma congratulated South African-born actress Charlize Theron on Wednesday for scooping the World Economic Forum’s crystal award for her humanitarian work.

“We are proud of our Charlize,” Zuma said in a statement.

“She has succeeded in an extremely competitive environment, and is a visible and hardworking ambassador for her country.”

The Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project finances programs designed to prevent the spread of HIV among young Africans, particularly in South Africa.

The programs include mobile health services in an impoverished region of South Africa.

Zuma said he met Theron on the sidelines of the conference in Switzerland on Wednesday, and she briefed him on her work.

“I assured her that South Africans love her and wish her all the best,” he said.

“We wish her success in every venture she undertakes.”

The award was presented to her on Tuesday night.

Last year, the award went to South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka, who was recognised for “using her art to improve the state of the world”. – Sapa

Persisting Divides in Global Competitiveness as Switzerland, Singapore and Finland Top Competitiveness Rankings in 2012

  • Competitiveness gap widening among European countries
  • US remains world’s innovation powerhouse despite decline in overall ranking
  • People’s Republic of China most competitive among large emerging markets; India, Russia fall
  • Download the full report profiling 144 economies, highlights, rankings and more at http://www.weforum.org/gcr
  • Watch the video interviews on the results of the report

Geneva, Switzerland, 5 September 2012 – Switzerland, for the fourth consecutive year, tops the overall rankings in The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013, released today by the World Economic Forum. Singapore remains in second position and Finland in third position, overtaking Sweden (4th). These and other Northern and Western European countries dominate the top 10 with the Netherlands (5th), Germany (6th) and United Kingdom (8th). The United States (7th), Hong Kong (9th) and Japan (10th) complete the ranking of the top 10 most competitive economies.

The large emerging market economies (BRICS) display different performances. Despite a slight decline in the rankings of three places, the People’s Republic of China (29th) continues to lead the group. Of the others, only Brazil (48th) moves up this year, with South Africa (52nd), India (59th) and Russia (67th) experiencing small declines in rankings.Despite growing its overall competitiveness score, the United States continues its decline for the fourth year in a row, falling two more places to seventh position. In addition to the burgeoning macroeconomic vulnerabilities, some aspects of the country’s institutional environment continue to raise concern among business leaders, particularly the low public trust in politicians and a perceived lack of government efficiency. On a more positive note, the country still remains a global innovation powerhouse and its markets work efficiently.The report indicates that Switzerland and countries in Northern Europe have been consolidating their strong competitiveness positions since the financial and economic downturn in 2008. On the other hand, countries in Southern Europe, i.e. Portugal (49th), Spain (36th), Italy (42nd) and particularly Greece (96th) continue to suffer from competitiveness weaknesses in terms of macroeconomic imbalances, poor access to financing, rigid labour markets and an innovation deficit.

Download the full Global Competitiveness rankings
(PDF or Excel format)

Behind Singapore, several Asian economies are performing strongly, with Hong Kong SAR (9th), Japan (10th), Taiwan, China (13th) and the Republic of Korea (19th) all in the top 20.

In the Middle East and North Africa, Qatar (11th) leads the region while Saudi Arabia remains among the top 20 (18th). The United Arab Emirates (24th) improves its performance while Kuwait (37th) slightly declines. Morocco (70th) and Jordan (63rd) improve slightly. In sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa (52nd) and Mauritius (54th) feature in the top half of the rankings. However, most countries in the region continue to require efforts across the board to improve their competitiveness.

In Latin America, Chile (33rd) retains the lead and a number of countries see their competitiveness improve, such as Panama (40th), Brazil (48th), Mexico (53rd) and Peru (61st). Read more highlights of the report.

“Persisting divides in competitiveness across regions and within regions, particularly in Europe, are at the origin of the turbulence we are experiencing today, and this is jeopardizing our future prosperity.” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum. “We urge governments to act decisively by adopting long-term measures to enhance competitiveness and return the world to a sustainable growth path.”

Xavier Sala-i-Martin, Professor of Economics, Columbia University, USA, said: “The Global Competitiveness Index provides a window on the long-term trends that are shaping the competitiveness of the world’s economies. In this light, we believe it offers useful insight into the key areas where countries must act if they are to optimize the productivity that will determine their economic future.”