OASES vs. BRICS-5: a look at the global rankings

There are many signs that the world economy is tending towards gigantism and higher concentration of representation of large countries in global governance. In the past several decades this was reflected in the emergence of such projects as the BRICS (a bloc that includes some of the largest emerging markets), the G20 (bringing together the largest economies of the world) and the G7 (the largest advanced economies). But what if a different paradigm were to be entertained, in which a greater role in global governance were to be provided for some of the smallest economies that demonstrate success in economic modernization and are active in the international arena through their peace mediation efforts?

A group of small open economies that have the common features of being small in terms of territory and population, but disproportionately influential in terms of international policy, peace mediation roles and the soft power of pursuing advanced economic modernization policies could include the following members:

• UAE in the Middle East and Africa
• Uruguay in Latin America
• Singapore in East Asia
• Switzerland and Austria in Europe

The acronym proposed for this group back in 2022 was OASES (Lissovolik, 2022) – Oriental Republic of Uruguay (ORU), Austria, Switzerland, Emirates (United Arab Emirates) and Singapore. The key unifying theme behind the OASES concept was to bring together the relatively small, but innovative, agile and open economies from each of the main regions of the world to build a global platform that would advance best practices in economic modernization and governance.

In effect, the concept of OASES has to do primarily with the quality of economic policy and economic conditions rather than quantitative effects that can be mustered by this group of economies — indeed, such composite qualitative indicators as the Human Development Index (HDI) point to the relatively high performance of OASES economies, particularly compared to the BRICS-5 economies. As is shown in Table 1, the grouping holds the first position in Europe thanks to Switzerland as well as in the Middle East due to the regional leadership of the United Arab Emirates. Singapore is runner-up in all of Asia, while in Latin America Uruguay comes 4th in the 2024 ranking (just behind the regional leaders of Chile and Argentina and closing the gap in the past several years). 

Table 1

Human Development Index, 2022

Note. Adapted from UNDP (2025)

But it is in the global rankings that gauge the quality of living conditions in the world’s major cities that the leading position of OASES economies and their urban centers comes to the fore. In particular, in terms of Mercer’s Quality of living city ranking, while Vienna and Zurich are the leaders globally, Singapore takes the number one spot for Asia, Montevideo is the leader in Latin America, while Dubai and Abu Dhabi are at the top of the ranking in the Middle East (see Table 2). This leadership demonstrated by OASES in developing high-quality urban centers is particularly important for attracting highly skilled labor, something that is becoming the key to competitiveness in the current global economic environment. All of the leading cities from BRICS-5 are below the number 100 position in the ranking, with Cape Town (the leader across the BRICS-5 cities) occupying position number 102.

Table 2

Mercer’s Quality of Living City Ranking, 2023

Note. Adapted from Mercer (2024)

As regards the ranking of global financial centers, nearly all OASES economies possess some of the leading financial centers in the world that may serve as important poles of attracting capital and talent. Such global financial centers (all of which are in the top-50 of the world) include Singapore, Dubai, Abu-Dhabi as well as Zurich and Geneva. Vienna experienced a decline in its ranking to 83 in the world in 2024 (see Table 3), but it still is a key “global diplomatic center” (including in the sphere of economic diplomacy) and host to international organizations such as OSCE, UNIDO and others.

For its part Montevideo that did not make it into the list of the world’s leading financial hubs is an important center of regional cooperation and integration in Latin America as it is the seat of the administrative headquarters of Mercosur and ALADI. In the financial sphere the city has taken active steps to boost its role as a regional financial center via granting investors broader opportunities to invest in the country’s local market, including through listing locally issued debt on Euroclear (Tiscornia, 2021a). These measures together with proximity to other regional financial centers such as Buenos Aires have resulted in a perceptible increase in the presence of international asset managers and wealth management groups (Tiscornia, 2021b).       

Table 3

Global Financial Centers Index Rank (2024)

Note. Adapted from Z/Yen Partners (2024)

The presence of such financially developed cities in OASES economies significantly strengthens their capabilities in attracting capital and highly qualified labor. Even more importantly, it reinforces the role of OASES economies as entry points/gateways into the respective regions, where OASES economies are present— Europe (EU and EFTA), Middle East (GCC), South America (Mercosur), Southeast Asia (ASEAN).

Another corollary of the leading positions of OASES economies and their cities is the greater scope for innovation, given the favorable conditions for attracting talent. According to the Global Innovation Index of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Switzerland and Singapore are among the global leaders (in top-5) in the 2024 Global Innovation Index, while UAE is a runner-up in the Middle East, only trailing Israel. Singapore is also the economy with the greatest number of GII indicators with a top ranking in the world. Uruguay is close in the absolute value of the Global Innovation index to its Latin American peers that are ahead in the rating (Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Colombia), while Austria is ranked 10^th in Europe and 8^th in the EU (see Table 4).

Table 4

Global Innovation Index (GII), 2024

Note: Adapted from WIPO (2024)

Disclaimer: “The Secretariat of WIPO assumes no liability or responsibility with regard to the transformation or translation of the original content.”

Overall, in terms of global rankings OASES economies are among the leaders in terms of innovation, international financial centers, as well as quality of life and human development indexes. Compared to BRICS-5 countries that may be increasingly dominant in terms of the quantitative share of the group in the global economy, OASES economies outperform in qualitative terms as reflected in the above rankings. A broader look at the available international rankings, including in areas such as digital and environmental development, would arguably further reinforce the strong qualitative standing of OASES in the global economy (Lissovolik, 2024). This prominent positioning of the members of the grouping on the international stage creates favorable conditions for launching common platforms among OASES countries in the digital economy, environmental policy, peace mediation as well as in building partnerships among the regional and global safe-havens. Such platforms may enable OASES to compete on the international arena for capital and trade flows as well as for global talent and high-skilled labor, making OASES/OASES+ a grouping for small states that is a crucial element in the emerging multipolarity of the world economy.

Yaroslav Lissovolik, Founder, BRICS+ Analytics

Image of the city of Montevideo by hernansuarez28 via Pixabay