China rises up ‘elite quality’ league table as AI investment booms | South China Morning Post

Thanks to its combined strengths in artificial intelligence and manufacturing, China rose two places to rank 19th out of 151 countries in the 2025 Elite Quality Index – a Swiss study that assesses the extent to which national elites create sustainable value for their nations.

Singapore topped this year’s rankings, followed by the United States and Switzerland, in the annual report produced by the Foundation for Value Creation Activities in partnership with the University of St. Gallen.

Asian economies performed strongly overall, with Japan maintaining fourth place and South Korea rising to fifth. In contrast, several European countries including the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland fell down the rankings this year.

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“China ranks at 19th in the index, up two places from last year, maintaining its upward trend in Elite Quality and an outcome that is particularly commendable given the dramatic changes in the global economic order,” the report said.

The index assessed 151 countries based on 149 indicators, which are designed to gauge the overall impact of elite business models in terms of creating positive value or engaging in negative rent-seeking behaviour.

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China scored particularly highly in the AI value creation sub-index, placing fourth behind the US, Singapore and South Korea. This year’s report increased the number of AI indicators from two to seven based on the industry’s growing importance as a source of value creation.

Zhang Jun, dean of the School of Economics at Shanghai’s Fudan University, said China’s rise in the rankings showed that its elite-led model of governance had been effective in promoting the country’s economic development.