The Most Innovative Countries, Ranked by Income Group

Innovation can be instrumental to the success of economies, at macro and micro scales. While investment provides powerful fuel for innovation—the relationship isn’t always straightforward.

The 2020 ranking from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reveals just that.

The above map breaks down the most innovative countries in each World Bank income group, based on data from WIPO’s Global Innovation Index (GII), which evaluates nations across 80 innovation indicators like research and development (R&D), venture capital, and high-tech production.

While wealthier nations continue to lead global innovation, the GII also shows that middle-income countries—particularly in Asia—are making impressive strides.

Fueling Innovation

The economic and regulatory spheres within countries can have an enormous impact on their level of innovation—and vice versa, as innovation in turn becomes an economic driver, stimulating further investment.

The positive feedback loop between investment and innovation results in the success of some of the top countries in the table below, which shows the three most innovative countries in each income group.

Switzerland, Sweden, and the U.S. are the top three in the high-income group. Considering that Switzerland has the second-highest GDP per capita globally, it is not a surprise leader on this list.

Upper middle-income countries are led by China, Malaysia, and Bulgaria. Note that China far surpasses other nations in the upper-middle-income group ranking, reaching 14th spot overall in 2020. Others in the income group only appear in the overall ranking after 30th place.

Below are several income group leaders, and some of their key areas of output:

• Switzerland: First in Knowledge Creation, second in Global Brand Value
• U.S.: First in Entertainment and Media, Computer Software Spending, Intellectual Property Receipts
• China: First in Patents Registered
• Vietnam: Second in High-Technology Net Exports
• India: First in Information and Communication Technology Services Exports
• Tanzania: 23rd in Printing and Other Media

Shining a Light on Global Innovators

Since 2011, Switzerland has led the world in innovation according to this index, and the top five countries have seen few changes in recent years.

Sweden regained second place in 2019 and the U.S. moved into third—positions they maintain in 2020. The Netherlands entered the top two in 2018 and now sits at fifth.

Here’s how the overall ranking shakes out:

Nordic countries like Sweden, Denmark, and Finland continue their strong showing across innovation factors—like Knowledge Creation, Global Brand Value, Environmental Performance, and Intellectual Property Receipts—leading to their continued presence atop global innovators.

But the nations making the biggest moves in GII ranking are found in Asia.

China, Vietnam, India, and the Philippines have risen the most of all countries, with all four now in the top 50. China broke into the top 15 in 2019 and remains the only middle-income economy in the top 30.

In 2020, South Korea became the second Asian economy to enter the top 10, after Singapore. As the first Asian country to move into the global top five, Singapore joined the leaders in 2018, and now sits at 8th place.

In another first for 2020, India has now broken into the top 50.

Innovation Input & Output: The Overachievers

While annual rankings like these confirm the importance of a robust economy and innovation investment, variations in the relationship between input and output are not uncommon.

The correlation between wealth and innovation isn’t always straightforward, and neither is the connection between innovation input and output.

Below is an overview of the GII inputs and outputs, as well as several of the world’s overall leaders in each pillar.

Input variables can be characterized as factors that foster innovation—everything from the quality of a country’s university institutions to its levels of ecological sustainability.

Output factors include innovation indicators like the creation of new businesses, and even the number of Wikipedia edits made per million people.

Countries with impressive innovation outputs compared to input levels include:

• China: 26th in inputs, but sixth in overall innovation outputs
• Netherlands: 11th in innovation input, but fourth across outputs
• Thailand: 48th in overall input, first in business R&D
• Malaysia: 34th in overall input, first in high-tech net exports

Innovation Fuel Reductions Up Ahead?

Although financial markets have ignited, the economy as a whole has not fared well since lockdowns began. This begs the question of whether a steep decline in innovation capital will follow.

In response to the 2020 pandemic, will spending on R&D echo the 2009 recession and aftermath of 9/11? Will venture capital flows continue to decline more than they have since 2018?

Because innovation is so entwined with the economic growth strategies of companies and nations alike, the WIPO notes that the potential decline may not be as severe as historical trends might suggest.

No Stopping Human Innovation

Thankfully, innovation opportunities are not solely contingent on the level of capital infused during any given year. Instead, the cumulative results of continuous innovation stimuli may be enough to maintain growth, while strategic cash reserves are put to use.

What the GII ranking shows is that inputs don’t always equal outputs—and that innovative strides can be made with even modest levels of capital flow.

The 50 Most Visited Websites In the World

View the high-resolution of the infographic by clicking here.

If you spend any time online, it’s likely you’re familiar with some of the world’s most visited websites. On today’s internet, a handful of giants have unmatched dominance.

Top Three Websites (Monthly visits):

• Google: 92.5 billion
• YouTube: 34.6 billion
• Facebook: 25.5 billion

Together, the top three websites rake in 152 billion visits monthly, outpacing the next 47 websites combined. What’s more, as the pandemic transformed everything from the way we work, learn, communicate, and shop—a majority of these activities migrated online.

In this new visualization, we look at the most visited websites around the world, drawing data from SimilarWeb (as of November 2020).

The Top Global Websites

Servicing over two trillion search queries annually through its network, Alphabet-owned Google ranks highest with its flagship domain, Google.com. Google derives approximately 80% of its earnings from ad revenues.

Coming in second, social networking platform Facebook has a user base of 2.7 billion. On average, users spend 34 minutes on the site daily, while 36% of users say it’s also where they get their news—higher than any other social network.

As the leading search engine in China, Baidu (#7) received 5.6 billion visitors in November. Baidu is also branching out its business— venturing into electric vehicles (EVs) in a partnership with China-based automaker Geely.

As video conferencing vaulted in demand during the pandemic, Zoom (#15), launched into the most visited websites with 2.7 billion visitors monthly. Similarly, TikTok (#43) became a freshly minted addition.

The Most Visited Websites, By Country of Origin

With 27 sites on the list, the U.S. remains a dominant player. While its reach is highly concentrated on a global level, just a handful of companies own a majority of these sites.

See the static version of each regional graphic here.

Microsoft (#28), for instance, owns seven of the top sites in the world including LinkedIn (#25) and Live.com (#16). Amazon (#13), on the other hand owns five including Twitch.tv (#32), along with popular Amazon-focused domains in Japan, U.K., and Germany.

China holds five top websites: Baidu (#7), QQ (#34), Bilibili (#42), TikTok (#43), and AliExpress (#47). The Tencent-owned QQ.com, ranks as the top news site in China, with over 981 million monthly visits. Like WeChat, QQ also provides a popular messaging platform.

Just four of the most visited websites globally are based in both Russia and Japan, while the rest of the world account for 10 top sites altogether.

Reaching New Heights

While global internet patterns are clearly dominated by a few titans, what can we make of their recent traffic growth?

Between June 2019 and November 2020, Google’s monthly visitors increased 52.9%. Among the most visited websites globally, this rate of growth falls only behind Instagram (#6) at 89.1% and Twitter (#4) at 67.1%.

Wikipedia (#5), a non-profit website that originated in 2001 by Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales realized over 30% growth.

While large tech companies have only accelerated their market share—Google makes up roughly 90% of the search ad market—several regulatory bodies are placing greater scrutiny on them. An October 2020 antitrust report suggested that Big Tech is in fact anti-competitive, drawing comparisons with oil tycoons of the 19th and 20th centuries.

With these key forces in mind, it raises a critical question: is there a limit to their growth?