Switzerland ranked among ‘most globalised’ nations

High import tariffs in agriculture prevented Switzerland from doing better in the globalisation ranking Keystone

The alpine nation came fifth in a globalisation index that ranks countries based on trade flows and cross-border information sharing, as well as international political engagement. 

The Netherlands topped the globalisation index External link– produced by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at Zurich’s Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) – followed by Ireland, Belgium and Austria. The index measures the extent of economic, social and political globalisation in 2014 to calculate the final ranking. 

Switzerland did well in the social globalisation category, occupying second place behind Singapore. The high proportion of foreign residents (24.3%) contributed to the country’s good performance. 

It also did well in terms of political globalisation, where it came tenth out of 197 countries thanks to its active involvement in international organisations, treaties and United Nations peace missions. However, in the area of economic globalisation Switzerland could only manage 22^nd place, despite being an important financial and commodities hub. 

“Switzerland does relatively well in terms of trade and financial flows. The comparatively lower ranking is mainly because of high tariffs in the agricultural sector,” KOF researcher Florian Hälg told swissinfo.ch. 

Hälg claims that the world is becoming more globalised after a period of stagnation following the financial recession of 2008. He dismisses talks of protectionism as politics with no bearing – until now – on the indicators used in the globalisation index.