Skip to main content
A Singapore Government Agency Website How to identify
Official website links end with .gov.sg
Secure websites use HTTPS
Look for a lock () or https:// as an added precaution. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
National Population and Talent Division
Parliamentary Replies

Parliamentary Reply by Minister Indranee Rajah on Singapore’s IMD World Talent Ranking 2025

26 September 2025

Singapore's drop in the IMD World Talent Ranking 2025 was driven largely by perception-based factors, including views on apprenticeships, employee training, and brain drain. The Government will analyse these findings while continuing to develop local talent and welcome complementary overseas talent to maintain Singapore's standing as a leading global talent hub.

FIFTEENTH PARLIAMENT OF SINGAPORE

ORAL REPLY 

FRIDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER 2025

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng:

To ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance what is the Government’s response to Singapore’s recent drop in ranking in the International Institute for Management Development’s World Talent Ranking 2025, which assesses the three pillars of investment and development, appeal and readiness.

Ms Indranee Rajah (for the Prime Minister):

The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Talent Ranking measures how economies perform in (a) developing home-grown talent, (b) attracting and retaining overseas talent, and (c) building the skills and competencies of their labour force. It provides a perspective of how Singapore is perceived vis-à-vis the other economies as a global talent hub.

One key driver behind the change in Singapore’s ranking in 2025 was in perception-based factors, or indicators, in particular how business executives viewed adequacy of apprenticeships, their perceptions of companies’ prioritisation of employee training and their confidence in Singapore’s ability to avoid brain drain. We will analyse these findings as well as other relevant data carefully, to better understand the underlying causes and see where and how we can do better.

Singapore’s performance should also be seen in context. For example, demographic realities limit how much we can grow our workforce. As such, our slowing labour force growth in 2024 resulted in a fall in the related indicator. On the other hand, although we were ranked 63rd in terms of our public expenditure on education as a share of GDP, we were 2nd in the same survey on education outcomes (i.e., the PISA score). This is a testament to our cost-effective public spending on education1.

Singapore will continue to welcome talent who complement our own capabilities. We will at the same time press on with our priority in developing our local workforce. By investing in our people, enhancing our business environment, strengthening our connectivity and fostering a vibrant tech and innovation ecosystem, we are confident that Singapore will remain a leading global talent hub.

1Please refer to https://www.mof.gov.sg/policies/fiscal (opens in new tab)