• Botswana tops Africa in IMD 2025 World Talent Ranking

• Kenya joins ranking; South Africa drops to 62nd place

• Switzerland leads globally; U.S. ranks 22nd, China 38th

Botswana, Namibia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa are Africa's most attractive economies for talent, according to the 2025 World Talent Ranking published Tuesday by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne.

The "IMD World Talent Ranking 2025" evaluates how 69 countries worldwide develop, attract, and retain talent for local businesses, based on 31 criteria across three pillars. The pillars are "investment and development," which covers public spending on education, teacher-to-student ratios, and employee training; "appeal," which measures a country's ability to attract foreign skilled workers through factors like cost of living and executive compensation; and "readiness," which assesses the availability of skills and competencies in the talent pool, including language skills and the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates.

The ranking combines statistical data, such as GDP and public spending, with a survey of 6,162 senior executives and business leaders. The survey asked executives to identify the most important factors they would consider when moving to another country for work. These factors fall into five main categories: financial incentives, political stability, business environment, infrastructure, and cultural fit.

Botswana ranked 48th overall, making it the top-performing African country for developing local talent and attracting foreign talent. Despite dropping 26 places from the 2024 ranking, the Southern African nation performed best in the "appeal" pillar, driven by its low cost of living and an independent judiciary.

Namibia ranked 52nd globally, placing it second in Africa, ahead of Kenya (55th), Nigeria (56th), Ghana (61st), and South Africa (62nd). Kenya entered the ranking for the first time this year. Until 2018, South Africa was the only African country to be included in the IMD World Talent Ranking.

Globally, Switzerland remains at the top of the ranking for the fifth consecutive year, followed by Luxembourg and Iceland. Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Sweden, Singapore, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates, and Austria rounded out the top 10. The United States ranked 22nd. Aside from Singapore, other major Asian economies ranked lower, with China at 38th and Japan at 40th.

Walid Kéfi