Balearic Islands improves in competitiveness but remains at the bottom of the ranking of EU regions

Impulsa Balears places the Balearic Islands in 153rd place in the global competitiveness ranking made up of 234 regions of the European Union. This figure reveals significant progress in the last three years, a period in which the archipelago has climbed 13 positions in the competitiveness index.

Among the factors that have been decisive in climbing positions, Impulsa Balears highlights health, infrastructure, basic education and technological preparation, requirements that place the Balearic Islands in a ‘high’ or ‘very high’ competitiveness bracket. These aspects have contributed to raising the islands’ competitive score to 45 points, up from 41.6 in 2021. This progression has also allowed the Community to reduce the gap with the average of European regions to 86.9%.

At the other extreme, the weaknesses detected are concentrated in the drivers of efficiency and innovation: business sophistication, labour market efficiency and higher education. Antoni Riera, director of Impulsa Balears, stressed: “These three pillars are essential to promote the use of talent and the key to the passage of the islands to higher levels of competitiveness, especially taking into account the commitment of the European regions that lead the ranking”.

Despite the improvement in the competitive score, the Balearic Islands remains in the ‘low’ competitiveness bracket of the ranking, along with seven other Spanish autonomous communities and most of the regions of Poland and the Czech Republic. “We have to redouble our efforts to improve our current competitive position,” said Riera. To do this, Impulsa Balears proposes following the example of the leading regions of Europe and “a change of competitive chip, which places productivity at the centre of our plans. Otherwise, it is very difficult to comply with the competitive project demanded by the European environment”.

The vice-president of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Antoni Costa, stressed the importance of not settling for current progress and urged the region to focus on productivity, innovation and digital transformation to strengthen the local economy.