While the country's score remained the same, it was overtaken by Israel and Malaysia.

Qatar is more competitive than New Zealand according to the Swiss-based World Economic Forum.

New Zealand’s three-place slide on the World Economic Forum’s latest competitiveness rankings to 23rd out of 139 economies is pegged to a failure to lift innovation performance.

New Zealand has reversed its slide down the ladder of world competitiveness, rising from 24th last year into the top 20 this year.

The World Economic Forum’s latest Global Competitiveness Report shows
Switzerland has ousted the US from the top slot because of weakening US financial markets and macroeconomic stability.

Singapore has moved up to third place, followed by Sweden and Denmark, which fell from third.

Providing more work for the elderly is top of the list of recommendations in a new report by the World Economic Forum on the economic challenge of ageing populations.

“Transforming Pensions and Healthcare,” written in collaboration with the OECD and international workforce consultancy Mercer, says the window of opportunity is closing to address the massive demographic shift taking place in many countries.

New Zealand has been ranked fifth in the world in closing the gender gap, according to a report released this week by the World Economic Forum.

Those ahead of us are Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland.

However, we were well ahead of Britain (13), Australia (21) and USA (27).

While we did well in terms of health and education equality, the report says we still have a way to go in political equality, despite having had two consecutive female Prime Ministers before this election.