The placements were subcategories in a wider “best countries” study of 80 jurisdictions issued by US News & World Report, a news publication, on 23 January 2019. Luxembourg came in 19th in the overall ranking.

Open for business

The “open for business” subcategory, based on the results of 20,000 surveys, the media outlet said, looks at five factors: “bureaucratic, cheap manufacturing costs, corrupt, favorable tax environment and transparent government practices.”

The grand duchy topped the tables ahead of Switzerland, Panama, Sweden and Denmark.

Headquarter a corporation

According to US News & World Report:

“The Best Countries to Headquarter a Corporation ranking draws from a global perceptions-based survey and ranks countries based on the highest scores among nearly 6,000 business decision-makers in a compilation of nine attributes: connected to the rest of the world, corrupt, economically stable, educated population, favorable tax environment, is a place I would live, safe, well-developed infrastructure and well-developed legal framework.”

The grand duchy was bookended in this field by Switzerland and Canada in the first and second slots, respectively, and by fourth placed Australia and Sweden in fifth position in the 2019 ranking.

Other subrankings

Luxembourg placed in the top quartile in the “citizenship” (14th out of 80), “quality of life” (also 14th) and “entrepreneurship” (19th) categories. The country scored in the bottom half in the fields of “adventure” (46th), “heritage” (54th) and “movers”, a measure of economic dynamism (70th).

According to its sales materials, the news publication has a monthly readership of 37m.

The rankings are produced with BAV Group, a brand consultancy, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school.