A new index from the World Economic Forum has ranked Ireland as the 8th best-performing economy.

The Inclusive Development Index (IDI) is an annual assessment of 103 countries.

It measures how they perform on 11 aspects of economic progress, in addition to GDP.

It has three pillars: growth and development, inclusion and intergenerational equity.

On Ireland being ranked 8th among advanced economies, it says the country has demonstrated "solid performance" in growth and development.

It says we also benefit from a high GDP per capita, fourth in our peer group, and the second-highest level of labour productivity.

It adds: "A favourable business climate has allowed Ireland to drastically decrease its public-debt level by 43% over the past five years, the largest improvement by any advanced economy."

But it says while living standards here have risen modestly, Ireland is faced with high income inequality and "soaring wealth inequality".

However Ireland performs above average on Intergenerational Equity and Sustainability - driven by relatively low carbon emissions, strong human capital investment and low levels of environmental damage.

Norway was ranked as the best performing advanced economy in 2018.

Small European economies dominate the index, with Australia (9) the only non-European economy in the top 10.

Source: World Economic Forum

Of the G7 economies, Germany (12) is ranked highest, followed by Canada (17), France (18), United Kingdom (21), United States (23), Japan (24), and Italy (27).

In the ranking of emerging economies, six European economies are among the top 10: Lithuania (1), Hungary (2), Latvia (4), Poland (5), Croatia (7), and Romania (10).

Latin America accounts for three top 10 economies: Panama (6), Uruguay (8) and Chile (9).

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to due to speak at World Economic Forum in Davos, which runs from January 23rd to 26th.

The IDI aims to inform and enable sustained and inclusive economic progress through deepened public-private cooperation.

Read the full report here