SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 21 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

According to the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2025, which dimension does the country Switzerland hold 1st position in for both 2024 and 2025?

(a)Business Efficiency
(b)Infrastructure
(c)Economic Performance
(d)Employment

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The five-year factor table in IMD's yearbook ranks Switzerland 1st in Infrastructure in both 2024 and 2025, and in every year from 2022 to 2026.

Its other offered factors fall short: Business Efficiency was 5th (2024) and 6th (2025), and Economic Performance 12th and 13th.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Business Efficiency — Business Efficiency: 5th in 2024, 6th in 2025. Strong, but not first in either year, so it fails the stem's "both 2024 and 2025" test.
(c)
Economic Performance — Economic Performance: 12th in 2024, 13th in 2025. It was Switzerland's weakest factor in both years.
(d)
Employment — Employment is not one of the four factors. In IMD's framework it is a sub-factor inside Economic Performance, so it cannot be the "dimension" the stem asks about.

Concept

The IMD World Competitiveness Ranking, published by IMD business school in Lausanne, scores economies on four factors: Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business Efficiency and Infrastructure. Each splits into five sub-factors, 20 in all.

Infrastructure covers basic, technological and scientific infrastructure, health and environment, and education.

In 2025 Switzerland also took 1st place overall, up from 2nd in 2024.

Switzerland was 1st in Government Efficiency in 2024 and 2025 as well, but that factor is not among the options. The ranks here are from the five-year factor table in IMD's 2026 yearbook booklet.

Key facts

IMD's ranking has four factors: Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business Efficiency and Infrastructure.
Switzerland ranked 1st overall in 2025, after 2nd in 2024.
Switzerland was 1st in both Infrastructure and Government Efficiency in 2024 and 2025.
India ranked 41st overall in 2025, down from 39th in 2024.

Study next

Global indices and their publishers: Global Innovation Index (WIPO), Human Development Index (UNDP)India's position in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking

Common traps

Choosing Employment because it sounds like a dimension — it is a sub-factor of Economic Performance.
Assuming the overall No. 1 leads every factor — Switzerland was 13th in Economic Performance in 2025.

The ranking's publisher is asked at 17 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.17, which wants IMD Business School.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Current events — all 156 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.