Who Will Win in the 21st Century?

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But because money isn't everything, we've also included the full results of a study by Adrian White, a researcher at University of Leicester, England, that attempts to answer the ancient, nagging question of which country is the happiest in the world (see BusinessWeek.com 10/11/06, "Rating Countries for the Happiness Factor"). White's survey and findings have attracted some rebukes. For instance, he places heavy emphasis on social cohesion, quality of health care, and the availability of social services, which some critics see as a free pass for small, socialist-tinged Nordic nations with high tax rates.

Happiness Vs. Competitiveness

With our interactive table, you can decide for yourself. Our own analysis revealed some fascinating patterns. First, there is a sizable group of nations—mostly from Eastern Europe—who could be called the "Up-and-Coming Malcontents." Averaging their rankings on IMD's competitiveness study and the WEF's network-readiness survey, Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Bulgaria are reasonably well-placed for global business—and gaining ground. But they rank way down on the happiness index.

A trio of three South American countries—Colombia, Argentina, and Venezuela—shows up as being a lot happier than they are competitive on the global stage. But perhaps the most remarkable cluster is the "State of Grace" group, including Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Canada, Finland, Austria, and Luxembourg, which are all among the best-performing countries yet also manage to be even happier than they are competitive. That's the real recipe for success.

Click here for a slide-show tour of the world's most competitive countries.

To review the most network-ready countries, click here.

And for another look at the world's happiest countries, see here.

Reinhardt is Europe channel editor for BusinessWeek.com.