Which countries and capitals are best at attracting and retaining talent?

The answer comes each year at the same time as the world’s state and government leaders gather in Davos. In 2019 it is once again Switzerland – which is also home to Davos – that takes first place.

But here in the north we’re also moving up, shows this year’s Global Talent Competitiveness Index from INSEAD. 

Both the country as a whole and the capital have jumped two spots.

This year Denmark has moved up to fifth place from last year’s seventh, while Copenhagen has moved up to second from last year’s fourth.

“Both Denmark and Copenhagen have made impressive progress, which proves that we have many of the necessary conditions to attract international talents,” says Head of Global Talent at the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) Linda Duncan Wendelboe.

See also: Danes: Foreigners are a boon for our workplaces

Not so attractive

INSEAD’s Global Talent Index includes 93 per cent of the world’s population. 

This year the focus is entrepreneurial talent and the innovation they create at businesses, which is decisive for the competitiveness of cities and nations.

Here, Denmark has unfortunately dropped in the ranking and is no longer as “attractive”.

“As a nation we’ve dropped four spots in the attraction sub-parameter since 2018. That means there’s still more work to be done to improve in some of the sub-parameters where we’re lagging behind such as openness to attracting companies and talents,” says Linda Duncan Wendelboe.

She emphasises that Denmark is missing the final steps in order to take advantage of the ranking’s positive assessment.

“To harness the potential in our impressive placement and our favourable conditions for attracting and retaining talent, we need to raise awareness of Denmark as a career destination and market both the good Danish business conditions and job opportunities at Danish companies,” she says.

See also: Denmark wins silver in global talent competition