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China rises up ‘elite quality' league table as AI investment booms
Agencies
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.
'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.
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.
'However, it should be noted that compared to countries with higher rankings, such as Singapore, China's political elite needs to allow economic activities to become more market-oriented and strike a balance between strong state capacity and a more free economy,' he said.
The study praised China's close integration of innovation and local industry, citing the city of Hangzhou – an emerging Chinese tech hub – as a model where entrepreneurial networks had become a core competitive advantage for the region's business ecosystem. Still, challenges remain at the national level. 'China must improve government AI readiness and better commercialise academic research to fully unlock its AI-era innovation potential,' Zhou Weihua, director of Zhejiang University's International Research Center for Data Analytics and Management, was quoted as saying in the report.
China ranked 68th in the study's political power index, which measures national elites' influence over business regulation, rule-making and labour law, and 15th in terms of elites' contribution to markets and economic growth.
Through its 'manufacturing-driven innovation' development model, China has accumulated technological capabilities and become globally competitive in areas such as new-energy vehicles, high-temperature superconductors and green factories, according to the study.
Yet, China's ability to maintain high-quality growth will depend on providing sufficient opportunities for the younger generation, the report cautioned.
China ranked only 68th in the 'next-generation value creation' indicator, which focuses on intergenerational value creation and transfer, indicating that opportunities for sustainable value creation for young people remain limited.
While noting that China's opening-up policies had achieved significant results, the report said there was room for improvement in areas including economic globalisation (where the country ranked 102nd), protectionist measures (142nd), discriminatory interventions (145th), trade freedom (67th) and openness for business (52nd).
Improving in these areas would also benefit China's younger generations, as continued exposure to global market forces and openness would create more job opportunities, the study added.
