Jamaica fares as one of the worst nations in the world when it comes to how much crime and violence affect the ability to do business. This is the alarming finding of a report released this week.

In addition to this finding, some fascinating numbers were revealed yesterday by the World Economic Forum regarding Jamaica’s ability to compete in the global marketplace. The Global Competitiveness Report is an annual assessment of 144 nations in terms of how they rank for productivity and prosperity.

Jamaica’s overall rank of 86 out of 144 seems to reflect the individual scores for each area assessed within the report: just below the middle of the pack. In terms of other Caribbean nations, however, it ranks second to Barbados. Is this something to celebrate? That remains to be seen.

Overall, the Latin American and Caribbean region is not faring so well. The summary of the report reveals that the region will continue its lack of economic growth. In fact, the region will grow only 2.5 per cent in 2014 and attributes this to “weak investments, a fall in investments and commodity prices and tighter access to finance…” Chile, Panama and Costa Rica take the top spots, respectively, in the region.

(First, second and third place go to Switzerland, Singapore and the U.S. respectively, while the bottom three places to go Yemem, Chad and Guinea. And in summary, the report says the the global economy is “leaving behind” the worst economic crisis in 80 years but that threats remain on the horizon).

The report breaks the rankings down very specifically, so let’s pick out some other interesting facts for Jamaica. (What stands out for me is the lack of security and how it impacts on every aspect of living, working and doing business in Jamaica.)

GDP is $14.3 billion total and $5133.66 per capita and 0.03 per cent as share of world total. (In comparison, top ranked Switzerland’s numbers are as follows: $650.8; $81323.96 and 0.43 per cent).

Security: 127 out of 144 countries.
Business costs of crime and violence: 143 out of 144 countries.
Organized crime: 138 out of 144 countries.

Public trust in politicians: 95 out of 144 countries.
Judicial independence: 42 out of 144 countries.
Government efficiency: 106 out of 144 countries.
Transparency of government policy-making: 109 out of 144 countries.

The macroeconomy is not performing so well either, which we know from the IMF’s constant presence and monitoring. The report indicates that while Jamaica ranks high in terms of government budget balance as percentage of GDP (21st), the macroeconomy ranks low (136 overall), as do savings, inflation and government debt (127, 132 and 140 respectively). In terms of performance related to the incidences of HIV (122 out of 144 countries), Jamaica is not doing so well either.

On a more positive note, accountability and the protection of auditing and reporting standards are fairly strong (43 and 35).

Health and education rankings range in the mid-low end, while interestingly, the environment for small business owners and entrepreneurs appears fairly favourable.

Check out the full report, it is a full portrait of people’s perceptions of how competitive Jamaica is in comparison to the rest of the world. What sticks out for me is that without basic security, growth is elusive as people do not feel safe enough to take risks and conduct the activities associated with running a business and going about their daily lives.