Against the headwinds of the most severe economic crisis in more than 25 years, Canada has, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), “improved its ability to achieve sustained economic growth and long-term prosperity.”

This statement is based on the fact that among the 133 countries analyzed by WEF, Canada moved from 10th place last year to 9th place in 2009.

WEF rates each country based on its Global Competitiveness Index, a comprehensive set of measures designed to assess both the microeconomic and macroeconomic foundations of national competitiveness.

First place in this year’s ranking went to Switzerland, which displaced the U.S. as the country with the world’s most resilient/competitive economy. In third place was Singapore, followed by Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

WEF bases its Competitiveness Index on 12 pillars: institutions; infrastructure; macroeconomic stability; health and primary education; higher education and training; goods market efficiency; labour market efficiency; financial market sophistication; technological readiness; market size; business sophistication; and innovation.

According to WEF, the key factors helping to make Canada’s economy competitive include excellent transportation and telecommunications infrastructure, highly efficient markets (particularly labour markets and financial markets) as well as a strong health care and primary education system.

In addition, Canada has a relatively progressive system of training and advanced education. This has made it possible for its workforce to more easily adopt productivity enhancing technologies.

Also, Canada’s strong fiscal health and the fact that it has a low government debt-to-GDP ratio compared to other countries have given it a relatively strong macroeconomic stability ranking.

While the World Economic Forum does not make projections, it does note that “competitive economies are those that have in place factors driving productivity enhancements on which their present and future prosperity is built.”

This suggests that Canada’s relatively strong economic health, which has helped it cope with the current economic crisis better than most, will enable it to do so again in the future.