IMD WORLD TALENT REPORT - PRESS RELEASE
GABORONE, September 9th, 2025 – Botswana has suffered one of the steepest declines in the IMD World Talent Competitiveness Report since joining the rankings in 2021, tumbling 26 places from 22nd in 2024 to 48th this year. The overall competitiveness score also dropped significantly, from 65.79 to 51.65 out of 100. These results highlight a growing concern: while Botswana continues to show resilience in attracting skilled people, it faces major challenges in developing its own talent pipeline and preparing the workforce for future demands.
The report, which accesses 69 high- and middle-income countries on their ability to attract, develop, and retain talent, attributes Botswana’s decline primarily to underperformance in two key areas, namely, the Investment and Development factor and the Readiness factor. The Investment and Development factor measures a country’s commitment to cultivating homegrown talent through education, training, and health infrastructure, while the Readiness factor assesses the growth and quality of the labour force, including skills availability, education outcomes, and international exposure.
The contrast is striking given that Botswana allocates one of the highest shares of GDP to education in the world, outcomes in skills development remain underwhelming. In the Investment and Development factor, Botswana slid from 28th place in 2024 to 44th in 2025, with its score falling from 56.36 to 45.16 out of 100. The drop underscores stubborn weaknesses in the education-to-employment pipeline: primary schools continue to struggle with a high pupil-teacher ratio (61st), apprenticeship systems remain underdeveloped (ranked 61st 2025 from 44th in 2023), and many companies still place a low priority on structured employee training (50th). Health infrastructure, once a modest strength, also lost ground, slipping back to 44th from being ranked 37th in 2024. The lone bright spot in this category is the consistently high female labour force participation rate (4th globally), a sign of untapped potential that, if better supported through training and advancement opportunities, could help close the skills gap and enhance the nation’s competitiveness.
The steepest fall came in the Readiness factor, where Botswana plunged 38 places from 19th in 2024 to 57th in 2025, with its score collapsing from 58.60 to 32.78 out of 100. Once ranked 1st globally for labour force growth, the country has now tumbled to 66th as slowing GDP and rising unemployment take their toll. According to the Quarterly Multi-Topic Survey, overall unemployment rose from 25.3 percent in the third quarter of 2023 to 27.1 percent in the first quarter of 2024, while youth unemployment surged even more sharply, from 34.4 percent to 38.2 percent.
Still under the Readiness factor, the quality of education showed clear signs of strain. Primary and secondary education slipped to 50th, down from 36th the previous year. University education also fell sharply to 36th (from 24th), while management education — which evaluates whether training meets the needs of the business community — dropped to 44th from 36th. Irrespective, Botswana retains some important strengths: skilled labour availability remains relatively high (17th), senior managers are still viewed as competent (23rd), and language skills continue to meet enterprise needs (35th). Leveraging these assets while fixing the cracks in education and workforce readiness will be key to reversing the slide.
In contrast to the other dimensions, the Appeal factor — which measures a country’s ability to attract and retain talent — showed some resilience, with Botswana improving its position from 36th in 2024 to 32nd in 2025, and its score rising from 47.46 to 51.98 out of 100. The country remains an attractive destination on several fronts: it ranks 3rd globally for its favourable cost-of-living index, 12th for low levels of brain drain, and 11th for the ability to attract foreign highly skilled personnel. These indicators suggest that Botswana retains the ability to draw and retain talent from outside its borders. Yet serious challenges persist. Worker motivation remains among the lowest globally (68th), companies rank poorly in prioritizing talent retention (62nd), and the quality of life is still a concern (58th). This paradox — strong appeal abroad but weak motivation at home — shows that Botswana must improve working conditions and create better career opportunities if it is to convert its appeal into sustainable competitiveness.
Botswana’s decline in the 2025 report is more than a drop in numbers as it exposes structural challenges that demand urgent attention. Reversing this trend will require intensively accelerating the Economic Transformation Program, with a stronger focus on skills development through vocational training and apprenticeships, diversifying key sectors, promoting youth entrepreneurship, and expanding student mobility to bring in new skills and global perspectives. This is critical, as the nation’s response will determine whether Botswana becomes a magnet for opportunity or a bystander in the global race for talent. Globally, Switzerland retained the top spot for the 12th consecutive year, followed by Luxembourg and Iceland.
For more information please contact: Mr Letsogile Batsetswe and Mrs Motshabi Kgotlaesele at 3626300 or email: letsogileb@bnpc.bw or motshabit@bnpc.bw. The full Report can be accessed at www.imd.org and www.imd.org/wcc.
