Mexico fell seven spots in the latest global competitiveness rankings compiled by Switzerland’s Institute for Management Development (IMD), primarily due to lower institutional efficiency and a lack of legal certainty.
The IMD’s annual World Competitiveness Yearbook — which benchmarks 70 nations by the four “pillars” of economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure — placed Mexico at No. 62.
Mexico saw declines across all four categories. It fell from 39th to 41st in economic performance, from 54th to 57th in business efficiency, from 62nd to 67th in government efficiency, and from 61st to 64th in infrastructure.
A decline in public finances and lower economic growth also had a negative impact.
Overall, Mexico received 42.85 points out of 100, whereas top-ranked Singapore earned a perfect score of 100. Hong Kong came in second, followed by Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States.
According to El Economista newspaper, Mexico’s competitiveness profile “reflects a structural tension between a large, commercially integrated economy, an exceptionally tight labor market, and deep institutional weaknesses that worsened markedly” in 2026.
Employment stands out as one of Mexico’s most notable competitive strengths, ranking 12th globally. This is driven by three key indicators in which the country ranks in the top 10: overall unemployment (7th), long-term unemployment (3rd) and youth unemployment (9th).
The slip in the overall rankings — which are based on more than 250 indicators — means Mexico has now fallen 12 spots since coming in at No. 50 in 2019.
The Mexican economy’s competitiveness lags behind other large Latin American countries such as Chile (43rd), Argentina (58th), Colombia (59th) and Peru (60th). It only ranked higher than Brazil (65th) and Venezuela in 70th.
Considering sub-criteria of the four pillars, Mexico performed especially poorly in business legislation (69th), basic infrastructure (66th) and public financing (65th).
It also found itself in the bottom 10 for institutional framework (63rd), social framework (62nd), financing (62nd), technological infrastructure (63rd), health and environment (61st) and education (65th).
The deterioration recorded this year indicates that governance deficiencies are increasingly offsetting the economy’s structural advantages in the manufacturing and labor market sectors.
In its country report, the IMD identified the following challenges for Mexico:
- Reinforcing the business environment, rule of law and legal certainty to increase investor confidence
- Strengthening coordination between municipal, state and federal governments and industry to improve execution of strategic initiatives
- Promoting economic productivity through innovation, operational excellence and performance measurement, and strengthening local markets
- Improving the alignment of talent development with the technical and managerial capabilities required by industry
- Strengthening national value chains and key infrastructure in energy, logistics and digitalization
IMD’s rankings are computed by using the perceptions of executives together with statistics so as to use different types of data to measure quantifiable and qualitative issues separately.
Statistical indicators are procured from international, national and regional organizations, private institutions and partner institutes, while 6,900 executives were surveyed between February and April 2026.
With reports from El Economista, El Universal and Opportimes
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