Ireland Ranks As The World's Most Globalised Economy
by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London
02 March 2004

Ireland ranks as the world’s most global nation for the third year in a row, according to a survey measuring the extent of globalisation, released last week.

The fourth annual globalisation survey published by Foreign Policy Magazine and A.T Kearney found that Ireland maintained strong economic links and high levels of personal contact to the rest of the world, despite a world economy that has struggled for growth in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

Among the other findings of the survey was the revelation that economic integration dropped to the lowest levels since 1998, which the report attributed to heightened security around borders, ports and airports, in addition to recent corporate scandals and the fallout from Argentina’s economic collapse.

Making up the top three in the Globalisation Index, based on the year 2002 (the last year for which complete annual data is available) are Singapore (ranked 2nd) and Switzerland (3rd). Meanwhile, the United States was ranked 7th, the UK 12th, France 15th and Germany 18th. Botswana was found to be the most globalised African economy.

The Globalization Index measures economic, person-to-person, political, and technological integration in 62 countries, accounting for 96 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 84 percent of the world’s population.

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