SMU and the University of St Gallen in Switzerland jointly released the 2025 Elite Quality Index on Monday (May 19). Singapore achieved an overall score of 65.6, slightly higher than last year’s 65.3, and retained the top spot. The index evaluates 151 countries using 149 indicators across four main dimensions: economic power, economic value, political power, and political value. It measures whether national elites are creating value for society or extracting value for themselves. This year’s index introduced five new AI-related indicators, reflecting AI’s growing importance in elite-driven value creation. As a result, the United States, which ranked 16th last year, made a significant leap to second place, overtaking Switzerland, which dropped to third.
