Southeast, South and Midwest dominate ranking

The 11 federation units in the Southeast, South and Midwest regions occupy the top 11 positions in the competitiveness ranking of the Brazilian states, according to a study carried out by the Center for Public Leadership (CLP) and the Tendências consultancy.

The 2023 ranking was released this Wednesday (23). The first four are the same as the previous survey, from 2022: São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Paraná and the Federal District.

The ranking highlights the existence of two “Brazils” in terms of competitiveness: one formed by the states of the South, Southeast and Midwest, which appear at the top; and another formed by North and Northeast, at the bottom of the table.

The first Northeastern state to appear in the ranking is Ceará, in 12th position. In the North, the leadership is from Amazonas, 14th nationally. From 2022 to 2023, what made the most progress was Maranhão. He gained five positions, going from third to last to 21st in the country’s ranking.

On the other hand, the federation unit that fell the most was Bahia, which went from 17th to 24th position. The last three in the competitiveness ranking were Acre, Amapá and Roraima.

The competitiveness ranking was built from the scores of the states in ten pillars. North and Northeast states appear in the “top 3” of only two of these pillars: Paraíba is third in public safety and Roraima has, proportionally, the third largest market potential in the country.

“The competitiveness of a state is directly linked to the capacity for action of its public leaders”, highlights the executive director of the CLP, Tadeu Barros, in the presentation of the study.

Where the most competitive states stand out

São Paulo, in first place, is leader in the pillars of infrastructure, innovation and education, and second in those of environmental sustainability, market potential and social sustainability.

Santa Catarina, in second place overall, leads the rankings of human capital, public safety and social sustainability, and occupies the third position in the efficiency of the public machine, infrastructure and innovation.

Paraná, third in the general ranking, occupies the first position in the pillar of environmental sustainability and the second in the efficiency of the public machine.

The states that advanced the most in the competitiveness ranking

Maranhão was the state that advanced the most in the ranking. The state rose five positions, but even so, it is among the least competitive, occupying the 21st position. The advance can be attributed, according to the CLP, to the relative improvements in the pillars of fiscal soundness, public safety and market potential.

In fiscal solidity, the main advance was in the primary result, in which it advanced 18 positions. In the pillar of public safety, Maranhão advanced seven positions, moving from 14th to 7th, with emphasis on the performance in the personal safety indicator. And in the market potential pillar, the state advanced six positions, moving from 12th to 6th, given the good performance in the default criteria (3rd lowest) and credit quality for individuals (9th best ).

In the North, the greatest advance was made by Tocantins, which gained three positions in the general ranking, reaching 15th position. The biggest gains were in fiscal soundness (16th place), efficiency of the public machine (19th place) and human capital (10th place).

In the Midwest, the biggest advance was that of Goiás, which had a gain of two positions in the general ranking, reaching 7th place. The biggest advances were in human capital (17 positions, for 3rd); infrastructure (11 positions, for 9th) and market potential (seven positions, for 1st).

In the South and Southeast, Minas Gerais advanced the most. The state moved from 8th position in 2022 to 6th in 2023. The biggest gains were in human capital, in which it advanced five positions, going to 9th; public safety, with an advance of three positions and reaching 8th; and market potential, with an improvement of two positions.

The problems of the least competitive states in the country

Three northern states are at the bottom of the ranking: Acre, Amapá and Roraima. Acreans, who were in last place, dropped three positions compared to last year, with strong declines in public safety indicators and efficiency of the public machine.

Amapá, penultimate in the ranking, advanced one position compared to 2022. It lost space in pillars such as human capital, fiscal strength and market potential. On the other hand, there were advances in environmental sustainability, innovation and infrastructure.

Roraima fell from 22nd to 25th place in this edition. The poor performance is related to worsening in the pillars of fiscal soundness, human capital and environmental sustainability and infrastructure.

The major bottlenecks for Brazilian competitiveness

Two important bottlenecks for states are infrastructure and education. The CLP points out that they are undoubtedly among the main challenges for improving national competitiveness, undermining the potential for economic and social development.

“The chronic deficiency of infrastructure is one of the main challenges for improving the country’s competitiveness. The picture is a direct reflection of the low level of investment in infrastructure in the country”, informs the research report. Investments retreated from 5% of GDP in the 1970s to something close to 2%.

Other explanations for the lack of infrastructure, according to the CLP, are the misallocation of public resources and the deficiency of regulatory policies for the different segments of infrastructure.

Regarding education, there is a wide range of measures that need to be taken to reverse the sector’s problems. They go beyond improving the qualification and remuneration of teachers. According to the CLP, one of the priorities should be to improve the management of educational units.

The most competitive states in the country

Check below the list of the most competitive states in the country, according to CLP and Trends:

• 1st São Paulo
• 2nd Santa Catarina
• 3rd Paraná
• 4th Federal District
• 5th Rio Grande do Sul
• 6th Minas Gerais
• 7th Goiás
• 8th Mato Grosso
• 9th Mato Grosso do Sul
• 10th Holy Spirit
• 11th Rio de Janeiro
• 12th Ceará
• 13th Paraíba
• 14th Amazon
• 15th Tocantins
• 16th Pernambuco
• 17th Alagoas
• 18th Rondônia
• 19th Sergipe
• 20th Para
• 21st Maranhão
• 22nd Piauí
• 23rd Rio Grande do Norte
• 24th Bahia
• 25th Roraima
• 26th Amapá
• 27th acre

The states that stand out in the pillars of competitiveness

Infrastructure

• 1st São Paulo
• 2nd Holy Spirit
• 3rd Santa Catarina

Social Sustainability

• 1st Santa Catarina
• 2nd São Paulo
• 3rd Federal District

Public security

• 1st Santa Catarina
• 2nd Federal District
• 3rd Paraíba

Education

• 1st São Paulo
• 2nd Minas Gerais
• 3rd Paraná

fiscal soundness

• 1st Mato Grosso
• 2nd Holy Spirit
• 3rd Pará

Efficiency of the public machine

• 1st Rio Grande do Sul
• 2nd Paraná
• 3rd Santa Catarina

Human capital

• 1st Santa Catarina
• 2nd Federal District
• 3rd Mato Grosso do Sul

Environmental sustainability

• 1st Paraná
• 2nd São Paulo
• 3rd Federal District

market potential

• 1st Goiás
• 2nd São Paulo
• 3rd Roraima

Innovation

• 1st São Paulo
• 2nd Rio Grande do Sul
• 3rd Santa Catarina