Global talent rankings 2025: Hong Kong and Singapore secure top 10 spots
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Published: 10 September 2025
Author: Sarah Gideon
Summary
IMD’s World Talent Ranking 2025 evaluated 69 economies across three pillars — investment and development, appeal, and readiness — to judge their ability to develop, attract and retain skilled human capital. The report highlights shifting competitiveness in talent that will shape economic growth and innovation.
Hong Kong rose to fourth globally (from ninth in 2024), improving across readiness, investment and development, and especially appeal. Strengths include top marks for science graduates, high female labour participation and strong management education; weaknesses include pollution exposure, negative labour force growth and relatively low public education spending.
Singapore slipped to seventh (down five places) after weaker scores across the three pillars, most notably in investment and development. It remains strong in readiness and appeal, with high-quality education outcomes, health infrastructure and availability of foreign skilled personnel, but it scores poorly on cost of living and public education expenditure.
Other APAC markets in the top 30 include Taiwan (third in APAC), Australia (fourth in APAC) and Malaysia (25th in APAC). The report underscores that countries doing well balance investment, appeal and readiness; use resources efficiently; and leverage international student mobility to build talent pipelines.
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Key Points
- IMD WTR 2025 assessed 69 economies on investment & development, appeal and readiness.
- Hong Kong climbed to 4th place, improving notably in appeal and readiness.
- Singapore fell to 7th after declines mainly in investment and development, but remains strong on education outcomes and appeal.
- Taiwan, Australia and Malaysia are among APAC economies in the top 30, each showing different strengths across the three pillars.
- Top performers balance the three pillars, use education budgets efficiently and leverage international student mobility to build talent pipelines.
- Key challenges for many economies: gender gaps in labour participation, aligning education with labour market needs, and combining quality of life with affordability.
Why should I read this?
Quick and useful — if you hire, plan workforce strategy, or make policy, this one’s for you. It tells you who’s getting talent policy right in 2025, where pressures are building (think cost of living and education spend), and which countries are building real pipelines of skilled workers. Saves you digging through the full IMD report unless you want the deep data.
Context and relevance
The ranking matters for HR leaders, policymakers and businesses deciding where to invest, recruit or expand. As talent becomes more mobile and skills needs shift rapidly, rankings like IMD’s highlight practical areas to prioritise: education efficiency, foreign talent integration and policies that make markets both attractive and affordable. Economies that adapt in these areas will be better positioned for long-term growth; those that don’t risk falling behind.
Methodology note
The IMD World Talent Ranking uses 31 criteria across the three main factors; full methodology is available in IMD’s published report.