November 12: Hong Kong placed 11th among 70 economies in IMD’s 2026 World Digital and AI Ranking, according to a government announcement on November 11. The revised index shifts attention towards readiness to adopt and govern AI, rather than simply counting technology infrastructure.
Key highlights
- Hong Kong ranks fourth in Asia in the government’s account of the results.
- Its strongest factor ranking is second place in workforce development.
- The new index succeeds IMD’s World Digital Competitiveness Ranking.
- IMD cautions that national readiness and individual companies’ AI maturity are different measures.
Hong Kong’s results
The government says Hong Kong ranks fifth for efficiency and tenth for technology and infrastructure, alongside second place for workforce development. It also reports first place in the sub-factors of technological framework, practices, and education and training.
These are positions within the ranking’s framework, not percentages of companies using AI. A high position in education and training, for example, does not establish that every employer has sufficient specialist staff or that every worker has access to retraining.
The confirmed headline numbers
| Measure | Hong Kong’s position |
| Overall global ranking | 11th of 70 economies |
| Asian ranking | 4th |
| Workforce development | 2nd |
| Efficiency | 5th |
| Technology and infrastructure | 10th |
How IMD has changed the question
IMD describes the rebuilt ranking as an assessment of whether economies and companies can use AI productively, govern it responsibly and earn public trust. Its explanation places the United States first, followed by Singapore and the Netherlands.
IMD also publishes a separate AI Maturity Index for large public companies. It explicitly warns that an economy’s digital and AI readiness does not necessarily predict the maturity of businesses headquartered there. The two rankings should therefore not be combined as if they were one league table.
Why comparisons need care
The Hong Kong announcement says the new framework incorporates substantially more AI-specific indicators and includes retrospective rankings for 2022–25. It identifies five factors: governance, technology and infrastructure, efficiency, workforce development and values.
Analysis: When an index is redesigned, a simple comparison with a differently constructed older ranking can be misleading. For a business choosing where to operate, an overall rank is a starting point for questions about skills, infrastructure and governance; it is not a substitute for sector-specific costs, regulations or customer demand.
What to watch
The useful follow-up will be evidence that readiness translates into sustained productivity and access to practical skills. Company results, adoption surveys and training outcomes answer different questions from an economy-wide ranking and should be considered separately.
Sources
- Hong Kong Government: Digital and AI competitiveness ranking results
- IMD: World Digital and AI Ranking and methodology overview
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