The 2015 Global Creativity Index

Creativity is one of those intangibles about which it is difficult to achieve agreement, let alone define or measure.

This uncertainty makes it all the more important that our access to data and computational power inspire us to attempt to do so. JL

Richard Florida and colleagues report in the Martin Prosperity Institute of the University of Toronto:

Global creativity, as measured by the GCI, is connected to the economic development, competitiveness, and prosperity of nations. Countries that score highly on the GCI have higher levels of productivity, competitiveness, entrepreneurship, and overall human development. Nations that rank highly on the GCI also tend to be, on balance, more equal societies.

This report presents the 2015 edition of the Global Creativity Index, or GCI. The GCI is a broad-based measure for advanced economic growth and sustainable prosperity based on the 3Ts of economic development — talent, technology, and tolerance. It rates and ranks 139 nations worldwide on each of these dimensions and on our overall measure of creativity and prosperity.
Overall Ranking: Australia takes the number one ranking on the GCI, supplanting Sweden, which took top spot in the previous 2004 and 2011 editions. The United States is second (maintaining its previous ranking). New Zealand is third, Canada fourth (up three spots from its previous ranking), with Denmark and Finland tied for fifth. The rest of the top ten includes Sweden in seventh, Iceland eighth, Singapore ninth, and the Netherlands tenth.
Creative Class: Luxembourg has the largest share of the creative class (54 percent) — which spans science and technology; arts and culture; and business, management, and the professions. Bermuda is second (48 percent), Singapore third (47 percent), down from first in 2011. Switzerland (47 percent) is fourth and Iceland (45 percent) is fifth. Rounding out the top ten are Australia (45 percent), Sweden (45 percent), the Netherlands (44 percent), Canada (44 percent), and the United Kingdom (44 percent). The United States is 34th with 33 percent.
Technology: South Korea leads in technology. Japan is second, Israel third, the United States fourth, and Finland is fifth. Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Singapore, and Denmark round out the top ten.
Talent: Australia leads in talent. Iceland is second. The United States and Finland are tied for third with Singapore in fifth. Denmark, Slovenia, Belarus, New Zealand, and Sweden round out the top ten.
Tolerance: Canada takes the top spot in tolerance which we measure as openness to ethnic and religious minorities and gay and lesbian people. Iceland is second, New Zealand third, Australia fourth, and the United Kingdom fifth. The Netherlands, Uruguay, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden round out the top ten.
Creativity, Competitiveness, and Prosperity: Global creativity, as measured by the GCI, is closely connected to the economic development, competitiveness, and prosperity of nations. Countries that score highly on the GCI have higher levels of productivity (measured as economic output per person), competitiveness, entrepreneurship, and overall human development. Creativity is also closely connected to urbanization, with more urbanized nations scoring higher on the GCI.
The GCI is associated with higher levels of equality. Nations that rank highly on the GCI also tend to be, on balance, more equal societies. There are two approaches to balancing creative economic growth and inequality. A high road path, associated with the Scandinavian nations, combines high levels of creative competitiveness with relatively low levels of inequality. The low road path, associated with the United States and the United Kingdom, combines high levels of creative competitiveness with much higher levels of inequality.

Download this Report

The Global Creativity Index — Overall rankings (Appendix 4)

Rank	Country	Technology	Talent	Tolerance	Global Creativity Index
1	Australia	7	1	4	0.970
2	United States	4	3	11	0.950
3	New Zealand	7	8	3	0.949
4	Canada	13	14	1	0.920
5	Denmark	10	6	13	0.917
5	Finland	5	3	20	0.917
7	Sweden	11	8	10	0.915
8	Iceland	26	2	2	0.913
9	Singapore	7	5	23	0.896
10	Netherlands	20	11	6	0.889
11	Norway	18	12	9	0.883
12	United Kingdom	15	20	5	0.881
13	Ireland	23	21	7	0.845
14	Germany	7	28	18	0.837
16	Switzerland	19	22	17	0.822
16	France	16	26	16	0.822
16	Slovenia	17	8	35	0.822
18	Belgium	28	18	14	0.817
19	Spain	31	19	12	0.811
20	Austria	12	26	32	0.788
21	Hong Kong	32	32	30	0.715
21	Italy	25	31	38	0.715
23	Portugal	35	36	22	0.710
24	Japan	2	58	39	0.708
25	Luxembourg	20	48	32	0.696
26	Uruguay	48	45	7	0.688
27	Argentina	48	35	19	0.681
28	Hungary	34	33	41	0.673
29	Brazil	27	68	15	0.667
30	Israel	3	28	93	0.665
31	South Korea	1	50	70	0.660
32	Nicaragua	56	—	27	0.631
33	Estonia	33	16	87	0.625
34	Chile	56	39	31	0.611
35	Czech Republic	29	30	80	0.609
36	Costa Rica	47	61	20	0.607
37	Belarus	41	8	97	0.598
38	Russian Federation	22	15	123	0.579
39	South Africa	30	62	57	0.564
40	Latvia	54	22	77	0.563
41	Cuba	94	17	37	0.556
42	Laos	—	97	23	0.555
43	Malta	73	49	25	0.550
44	Ecuador	43	90	25	0.532
45	Ukraine	43	24	105	0.518
46	Poland	46	25	101	0.516
46	Montenegro	51	34	83	0.516
48	Bulgaria	78	38	47	0.505
49	Belize	—	88	48	0.504
50	Jamaica	42	79	49	0.502
51	Lithuania	65	12	105	0.490
52	Philippines	54	65	53	0.487
54	Slovak Republic	69	42	66	0.484
54	Serbia	70	45	58	0.484
54	Greece	39	43	101	0.484
56	Panama	70	67	34	0.482
57	Iran	—	71	72	0.481
58	Croatia	60	39	81	0.481
59	Mauritius	—	76	68	0.477
60	Venezuela	40	83	61	0.466
61	Botswana	—	73	75	0.462
62	China	14	87	96	0.462
63	Malaysia	24	69	101	0.455
64	Guatemala	102	37	44	0.449
64	Georgia	35	82	78	0.449
66	Cyprus	96	44	45	0.446
67	Trinidad and Tobago	111	52	28	0.433
68	Romania	65	60	76	0.425
69	Peru	62	79	60	0.418
70	Kenya	82	—	52	0.417
71	Colombia	89	75	36	0.410
72	Cameroon	—	103	59	0.408
73	Mexico	54	94	56	0.407
74	Macedonia	76	63	70	0.391
75	Syrian Arab Republic	—	85	84	0.382
75	Burkina Faso	—	122	46	0.382
77	Macao	80	56	—	0.381
78	Dominican Republic	63	81	74	0.380
78	Jordan	37	63	127	0.380
80	Vietnam	45	104	73	0.377
81	Mongolia	75	47	98	0.370
82	Thailand	38	84	105	0.365
83	Saudi Arabia	50	59	122	0.362
84	Kazakhstan	72	54	98	0.357
85	Senegal	—	112	64	0.355
86	Kuwait	108	—	39	0.351
87	Afghanistan	—	124	54	0.349
88	Turkey	58	53	123	0.348
89	Mali	—	114	64	0.347
90	Mozambique	63	117	50	0.346
91	Bermuda	104	41	—	0.346
92	Nepal	97	99	29	0.343
93	Honduras	60	93	89	0.319
94	Lebanon	—	55	132	0.317
95	Bangladesh	90	101	43	0.316
96	Benin	—	101	86	0.311
97	Paraguay	90	86	69	0.303
98	Ethiopia	103	95	42	0.295
99	India	52	92	108	0.292
100	Uzbekistan	74	111	64	0.288
101	Central African Republic	—	128	67	0.286
102	Algeria	68	77	116	0.279
103	Armenia	83	50	133	0.269
104	Tunisia	—	72	131	0.260
105	Moldova	85	57	128	0.256
106	Sri Lanka	100	96	61	0.255
107	Qatar	58	122	—	0.255
108	Bosnia and Herzegovina	77	70	119	0.253
109	El Salvador	109	100	50	0.248
110	Azerbaijan	98	78	92	0.244
111	Pakistan	100	110	54	0.240
111	Kyrgyz Republic	100	74	94	0.240
113	Cambodia	87	118	78	0.213
114	Tajikistan	106	90	85	0.205
115	Indonesia	67	108	115	0.202
116	Albania	83	90	118	0.197
117	Uganda	—	108	109	0.197
118	Egypt	93	66	134	0.196
119	Niger	—	132	89	0.185
120	Morocco	78	98	120	0.178
121	Haiti	88	—	117	0.174
122	Cote d'Ivoire	94	115	89	0.171
123	Chad	—	130	95	0.170
124	Lesotho	112	104	82	0.162
125	Angola	—	113	114	0.160
126	Rwanda	80	130	113	0.141
127	Malawi	—	133	101	0.135
128	Tanzania	—	127	110	0.126
129	Burundi	107	125	89	0.125
130	Guinea	—	126	111	0.124
131	Zimbabwe	—	129	111	0.113
132	Yemen	86	106	135	0.112
133	Liberia	—	121	120	0.109
134	Zambia	92	107	129	0.103
135	Mauritania	—	119	126	0.095
135	Djibouti	—	120	125	0.095
137	Madagascar	105	134	107	0.077
138	Ghana	—	116	136	0.073
139	Iraq	110	—	130	0.032