China releases latest World Openness Index at Shanghai forum

SHANGHAI -- The World Openness Index, gauging the openness levels of 129 economies from 2008 to 2022, was released on Sunday at the sixth Hongqiao International Economic Forum in Shanghai.

In 2022, the World Openness Index was at 0.7542, reflecting a continued overall downward trend, with the intensified divergence of openness between countries, sectors and regions.

The index, first released in 2021, was compiled by the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the Research Center for the Hongqiao International Economic Forum. It was included in the World Openness Report 2023.

"As active openness and conservative seclusion are colliding fiercely and stuck in a contradictory stalemate, countries still need to work together, meeting each other halfway to maintain and expand world opening-up," according to the report.

Zhang Yuyan, an economist with the CASS, said that despite the overall downward trend in world openness, there is hope for further progress on opening up.

Progress on scientific research, digital intelligence and green development has reduced barriers to the flow of goods, services and information, and boosted the performance of opening up, Zhang said.

The 10 most open economies in 2022 were Singapore, Germany, China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland, Cyprus and the United Kingdom, according to the index.

From 2008 to 2022, China achieved significant progress on expanding its opening up to the outside world, with its openness index rising from 0.6789 to 0.7517, ranking among the top areas in the world, said the report.

"The benign interaction between China and the world in opening up has become an example of warranted openness, which also implies China's goodwill and commitment to proactively open up and build a human community of shared future," said Gu Xueming, president of the Research Center for the Hongqiao International Economic Forum.