CS Global Partners released the second edition of the World Citizenship Report last week. The report featured a World Citizenship Index that crowned Denmark on top, followed by Switzerland and Finland.
The World’s Leading Government Advisory and Marketing Firm says that the World Citizenship Index in the WCR has been derived using a unique methodology to understand the needs of global citizens. The 2022 edition surveyed High-Net-Worth Individuals, while this year it has been expanded to a wider perspective.
The World Citizenship Report 2023 has been released under the theme “Freedom – The Shared Pursuit of Global Citizens”. Over 188 countries were analyzed on the basis of five key motivators to derive the final results.
The first edition of the report was released shortly before the Russian- Ukraine war started. After over a year of the release of the first WCR report, a lot changed following the crises in Europe.
Micha Rose Emmett- CEO of CS Global Partners said that the 2023 edition of the World Citizenship Report is unique, as they have tried to have a look at the needs of global citizens. The report aimed to understand the rights enjoyed, and responsibilities required by a global citizen from their personal perspective.
She added that the means of citizenship have also changed over the last few years. She maintained that now citizenship is a means of ensuring greater freedom that lets a person achieve their goals without limitations.
“The newly expanded audience covered 1000 mass affluent participants from across the globe, the findings showed that while the research participants came from varied backgrounds and cultures, all had different needs but one thing in come which was freedom,” added Micha Emmett.
She said the report derived that the meaning of freedom is different for each person, and depends on their personal circumstances.
Notably, CS Global Partners says that the WCR is the world’s first-ever endeavour investigating the value of citizenship through the lens of the global citizen. The advisory firm says that the WCR seeks to go beyond conventional measures of citizenship’s power by ranking them on the basis of the needs, wants and desires of the current and future global citizens of the world.
The report evaluated results based on five key motivators as Safety and Security, Economic Opportunity, Quality of Life, Global Mobility and Financial Freedom.
In the WCR report for 2022 and 2023, the top ten countries showed remarkable consistency, with only a few changes in their rankings. Switzerland, which held the top spot in 2022, slipped to the second position in 2023, while Denmark took over the first position in the latest report.
CS Global Partners noted that Denmark’s success in the WCR can be attributed to its strong economy, social welfare policies, and efficient public institutions.
Furthermore, the findings discovered that after only one year of the launch of the first report, the Republic of Korea experienced the biggest drop as in 2022 it ranked at number 28, but in 2023 fell over 20 spots to number 48. The noticeable climber was Sao Tome and Principe, which ranked at number 106 in 2022, climbing 27 spots to 79 in 2023.
The CEO Micha Emmett also noted the consistent ranking of Caribbean countries. She said that countries in the Caribbean offering citizenship by investment programs have maintained their positions in the top 30 percent of the rankings for 2023. According to her, this can be attributed to their political, economic, and social stability, which make them attractive to foreign investors seeking to obtain citizenship in another country. She maintained that Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia continue to offer the most attractive and secure path to alternative citizenship through investment programmes.
The findings suggested that safety and security remain a top priority for the average mass affluent global citizen. The multi-country survey found that over 50 per cent of EU respondents fear that the equipment and operational capability of their country’s army are unsatisfactory, with 40 percent stating that defence spending should be increased. The report adds that these attitudes tally with the findings of the World Citizenship Report (WCR) where, for example, physical safety was ranked as the top feature of citizenship most important to 25–34-year-olds. This suggests that safety and security are no longer a sure bet among those who typically take it for granted the most (i.e. the young).
As per the World Citizenship Report, around 30.9 percent of their focus group needs freedom of travel for leisure purposes. While around 23.4 percent accepted that they seek freedom of travel for business reasons. Notably, 22.1 percent seek freedom of travel for safety and security purposes. However, only 5 percent said they need freedom of travel for relocation purposes. Surprisingly around 18.7 percent said they need freedom to travel to access better medical resources.
The World Citizenship Report findings also discovered that around 42.7% of people seek financial freedom to get work and employment opportunities. While 31.2 percent say they need it for investments, estate planning and wealth planning.
Apart from the comprehensive data and analysis, the WCR report also features valuable insights from industry experts. For instance, Andrew Skipper, the founder of Polymetis Professional Solutions, with over three decades of experience as a legal and business advisor, has provided significant contributions to the report. His expertise and knowledge have been instrumental in providing a broader perspective on the issues discussed in the report.
Additionally, the report also includes a contribution from Alan Newton, a London-based tech COO, who shares his insights on how technology is transforming the way we work and live. In particular, he has discussed how technology is dissolving the barriers of physical location and enabling people to work remotely, leading to a significant impact on work/lifestyle. These contributions from industry experts further enhance the value of the WCR report, making it a valuable resource for policymakers, business leaders, and other stakeholders.
