Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Austria and the UK top the overall rankings, while Singapore ranks 11th globally
Singapore has emerged as the world's top-performing market for Business Environment in the Savills 2026 Nearshoring Index, underpinned by its strengths in logistics infrastructure, trade facilitation and ease of doing business.
The Index ranks 54 countries on factors that are important to occupiers looking for new locations to shorten or diversify their supply chains and/or reduce their reliance on foreign imports. Singapore places 11th globally overall and is the highest-ranked Southeast Asian market in the Index. The assessment considers resilience, economics, business environment and ESG performance.
Singapore’s leading Business Environment score is driven by its strong performance in the Logistics Performance Index, absence of trade barriers and broader global competitiveness, reinforcing its position as a regional hub for trade, logistics and business operations.
Alan Cheong, Executive Director, Research & Consultancy, Savills Singapore, comments: "The findings reinforce Singapore's position as a regional trade and logistics hub, supported by its connectivity, efficient infrastructure and ease of doing business. While US tariffs have hit the region hard, Singapore's logistics space fulfils a different function, serving the region and Australia. In this regard, efficient ramp-up logistics and temperature-controlled spaces remain in demand. Given that the supply of land for logistics and industrial development is largely controlled by the authorities, the risk of a significant oversupply situation remains low."
Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Austria, and the UK are the best locations in the world for industrial occupiers looking to reorientate and ‘nearshore’ production in the face of ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainty. These markets perform strongly due to their ability to balance resilience, cost competitiveness, business environment and ESG considerations.
Across Asia Pacific, different markets demonstrate distinct competitive advantages. Japan and Taiwan rank among the region's top performers due to their balanced performance across multiple pillars, while China and Vietnam continue to benefit from strong cost competitiveness and manufacturing scale. Singapore's strength lies in its business environment, reflecting its role as a regional hub for trade, logistics and supply chain management.
In the Americas, both Canada and Mexico rank highly – with Canada topping the Index overall – partly due to their preferential access to the US market, especially in the face of uncertain trade tariffs.
In Europe, Austria ranks top, due to its central geographic position, highly skilled workforce and strong credentials across resilience and ESG metrics, followed by Portugal, and the UK, with many other European economies also in the top 20. This is because these countries provide a good balance across all four pillars, especially resilience as they have strong access to the EU - the largest single market in the world.
Connor Chilton, Associate, Savills World Research, comments: "In the current macro and geopolitical climate, location is an incredibly complex decision for global manufacturing firms. Decisions aren’t just driven by a desire to minimise costs, but major considerations such as resilience, energy security and policy environments, alongside labour availability, rents, and access to consumers. Many of these factors pull in opposite directions, so those locations that top our Nearshoring Index tend to be those that manage strike a balance between all these factors."
Chart: Savills Nearshoring Index 2026
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Notes:
Savills 2026 Nearshoring Index, produced as part of its Impacts thought leadership programme, ranks 54 countries on the factors that are important to occupiers looking for new locations to shorten or diversify their supply chains and/or reduce their reliance on foreign imports. These factors include their resilience (local policies and proximity to consumers), economics (the cost of labour), business environment (the ease of doing business and trade infrastructure) and ESG performance (environmental/labour standards and energy performance). The Index is positively correlated with economic development – higher income economies generally score near the top.