German Economic Experts Rank Germany Only in the Middle of the Pack

Germany’s current attractiveness as a location for homegrown companies ranks only in the middle among its European peers. This is a finding of an international survey of economic experts conducted by the ifo Institute and the Swiss Economic Policy Institute. When asked to rate Germany’s attractiveness as a business location, the experts there awarded it 61.3 points out of a possible 100. Austria achieved 72.4 points, while Switzerland scored 72.6 points. “This isn’t a terrific result for the German economy. In particular, 78 percent of respondents in Germany think that their country has become less attractive as a business location over the past ten years. A full 48 percent expect the situation to worsen over the next ten years,” says ifo researcher Luisa Dörr.

In terms of their current attractiveness to homegrown companies, the UK scored just 58.3 points and Ireland 57.9 points, while Canada and the US did better with 67.3 points and 74.7 points, respectively. France scored 66.8 points. Lagging behind Germany were Belgium with 57.6 points, Luxembourg with 57.4 points, Italy with 50.7 points, Spain with 58.5 points, and Portugal with 51.4 points.

When it comes to attractiveness to foreign rather than domestic companies, most countries achieved lower scores. Germany received 49.6 points and Austria 61.5 points. Switzerland scored 77.8 points, making it actually more attractive to foreign companies than to domestic ones. The same is true of Ireland with 76.2 points, but not of the UK (38.6 points), Canada (49.4 points), and the US (63.7 points). The results of the survey also show that France (56.1 points) and Belgium (52.4 points) are also less attractive to foreign companies than to domestic ones. Luxembourg (78.6 points) is another exception in that it offers foreign companies particularly attractive conditions. Spain achieved an attractiveness score in this area of 54.6 points and Italy just 39.6 points. Portugal, however, managed 61.2 points – considerably better than for domestic companies.

The survey results for attractiveness as a business location are based on responses from economic experts in their respective countries. The survey had a total of 1,541 participants from 128 countries and ran from September 26 to October 11, 2023.