Belgium the third most globalised country in the world
Belgium is in third place in the new 'KOF Index of Globalization'. This index measures a country's level of globalisation based on 24 variables, with an economic, social or political dimension.
The KOF, the Economic Institute of the ETH, the technical university of Zurich, based its index on data from 2014. In the general ranking, only the Netherlands and Ireland were above Belgium. The KOF publishes a separate index for each dimension. Belgium is in 6th place in the ranking for both economic and social globalisation. In the ranking for political globalisation, our country is in 3rd place.
For the economic dimension, KOF looks at international trade flows and foreign investment, among other things. The institute measures the social dimension in three categories: individual contacts with foreign countries and people (outgoing international telephone calls, tourism to and from foreign countries and the size of the resident foreign population), access to the internet, television and foreign press products, and 'cultural proximity' (including book imports and exports and the number of McDonald’s and Ikea branches per thousand inhabitants).
Finally, for the political dimension of globalisation, the number of foreign embassies in the country, the number of international organisations of which the country is a member, and the number of UN peace missions in which the country has been engaged, are all important.
View the ranking here.