Malaysia climbs seven places to 27th in IMD World Digital and AI Ranking 2026

The country ranks second in ASEAN after Singapore, with AI adoption improving 21 places and science graduates placing second globally.

The US has emerged as the world's most digitally- and AI-competitive economy, with Singapore taking second place in the 2026 IMD World Digital and AI Ranking.

Malaysia, meanwhile, climbed seven places to rank 27th out of 70 economies, making it the second-highest-ranked ASEAN economy after Singapore.

The 2026 edition, released by the IMD World Competitiveness Center, marks a shift from the previous World Digital Competitiveness Ranking. The updated assessment looks beyond digital technology adoption to examine how ready countries and companies are to use artificial intelligence (AI) productively, govern it responsibly, and build trust among the people affected by it.

At the country level, it assesses 70 economies across 88 criteria, while its company-level assessment aligns with IMD's AI Maturity Index, which examines 330 of the world's largest companies from the Forbes Global 2000.

The two assessments are intended to be read together, recognising how national conditions influence companies' ability to adopt AI, while corporate investment and capabilities can also shape government decisions and priorities.

US leads the world's top 10 digital and AI economies

The world's top 10 economies in the 2026 IMD World Digital and AI Ranking are:

Singapore leads Asia-Pacific's top 10

The top 10 Asia-Pacific economies in the ranking are:

Malaysia rises to 27th as AI adoption improves

Malaysia has improved its overall position by seven places, moving from 34^th in the previous year to 27^th in 2026.

In a statement, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the country recorded a 21-place jump in AI adoption to rank 14^th globally. It also rose 10 places in efficiency to 28^th, while ranking 12^th for the implementation of its national AI strategy.

Other areas where Malaysia performed strongly included:

• Workforce development: 18^th globally
  
• Science graduates: Second globally
  
• Venture capital: Fifth globally
  
• High-tech exports: Sixth globally
  
• AI investment incentives: Eighth globally

Looking ahead, the Malaysia Digital Action Plan 2030 and the National AI Action Plan 2026-2030 (AI Nation 2030) aim to create up to 300,000 new AI-related jobs and contribute an additional 1.2 percentage points to GDP growth by 2030.

Under the MADANI Budget 2027, RM30mn has also been allocated through the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), for which one of the plans is to provide an additional 100,000 free AI subscriptions to young people.

How the IMD World Digital and AI Ranking is measured

The IMD World Digital and AI Ranking assesses how economies adopt and explore digital technologies to transform government practices, business models and society.

The 2026 framework is built around five main factors:

• Governance
• Technology and infrastructure
• Efficiency
• Workforce development
• Values

Each factor is divided into three sub-factors, bringing the assessment to 15 sub-factors in total, such as governance, capital and AI investment, AI adoption, AI readiness, cybersecurity, AI ethics and trust.

The assessment also includes 25 new indicators developed specifically for the WDAIR ranking, while the remaining indicators are shared with the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking. Population, GDP and exchange rate are included as background information and are not used to calculate the overall ranking.

Find the full 2026 ranking here.

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