These 31 countries are the best in the world for developing, attracting and retaining talent

• Swiss institute IMD Business School has published its fifth edition of the World Talent Ranking.
• The aim of the ranking is to focus on how countries develop, attract, and retain highly qualified professionals.
• The report analysed 63 countries based on three different indicators.

IMD Business School has published the fifth edition of its annual World Talent Report.

Looking at 63 countries around the world, the global talent ranking evaluates the performance of countries in developing, attracting, and retaining highly qualified professionals.

Fields such as education, workplace training, language skills, international experience, quality of life, and salaries, were analysed in each country within the report, amongst other factors.

The countries were ranked according to an overall score between 0 and 100 points, which is based on three main indicators, also scored between 0 and 100:

• Investment and Development: related to expenditure on education, the percentage of teachers per student in a country or the female labour force, among other factors.
• Appeal: based on the attractiveness of the country to foreign talent, with aspects such as the cost of living, salaries, or employee motivation among some of the factors taken into account.
• Readiness: measures among other areas the quality of the skills of employees and managers, or the education system.

While the amount of points each country has is ordered from least to most competitive nations and is out of 100, the positions obtained in the different indicators mark each country's position in the ranking, out of the 63 countries analysed.

Below are the 31 countries best at developing, attracting, and retaining the best talent for their companies, according to the 2018 index of IMD, together with their total points out of 100. 

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31. Spain — 63.34 points

In the Investment and Development factor, Spain ranked 31st overall. In Appeal, Spain remained at 25th place, while in Readiness, the country improved slightly from 41st to 40th.

30. Slovenia — 64.69 points

Slovenia hopped up from 37th to 30th place overall, and ranked 27th in Investment and Development, 42nd in Appeal and 29th in Readiness.

Improvements in the country's ranking, which move it up 7 places in the overall ranking from the previous year, stem from the quality of life and the availability of senior managers with international experience and language skills amongst other factors, according to the study.

29. Japan — 64.95 points

Japan improved this year, gaining 29th place overall. It ranked 23rd in Investment and Development, 28th in Appeal and 41st in Readiness.

According to the study, Japan has improved due to the availability of skilled labor and the effectiveness of its education system.