Malta ranked fourth in the economic global index, which shows that it was one of the world’s most globalised countries from an economic point of view in 2005, clearly indicating the cumulative effect of lay-offs in the low-end manufacturing industry.

November 2005 was definitely a period when globalisation pressures took their toll in Malta, when 850 Denim Services Ltd workers were laid off.

Two years later, the toll only increased, with 562 VF Textiles Ltd workers and 113 Bortex workers having been laid off.

The globalisation index, published on Tuesday, showed, on the other hand, that in political terms, Malta ranked 114th, was 26th in social terms and 37th overall.

The KOF Index of Globalisation 2008 provides data for 122 countries over the period 1970-2005.

The KOF Index of Globalisation, which was first introduced in 2002, covers the economic, social and political dimensions of globalisation.

Globalisation is described as the process of creating networks of connections among actors at multi-continental distances, mediated through a variety of flows including people, information and ideas, capital and goods.

Globalisation is conceptualised as a process that erodes national boundaries, integrates national economies, cultures, technologies and governance and produces complex relations of mutual interdependence.

Economic globalisation refers to long distance flows of goods, capital and services as well as information and perceptions that accompany market exchanges. Political globalisation refers to a diffusion of government policies, while social globalisation is expressed as the spread of ideas, information, images and people.

The index published this week introduces an updated version of the original index, using more recent data than has been available previously.

The degree of globalisation has been increasing since the 1970s, particularly since the mid-80s according to all three dimensions of globalisation.

The process of social globalisation stagnated from 2001 onwards. According to the world average, however, economic and political globalisation has been on the increase.

The overall index shows that globalisation has mostly been independent of income and region. As would be expected, the index shows that globalisation is most prevalent in western, developed countries.

The KOF Index of Globalisation measures globalisation on a scale of 1-100, where the underlying variables enter in percentiles.

As for the situation in Malta, the index shows that economic globalisation was rather stable between 1970 and 1994 (indices ranging between 57 and 64).

The economic globalisation index was on the increase from 1995 onwards, rising steadily between 71 in 1995 and 78 in 2003. The index increased to 87 in 2004 and up to 91 in 2005.

The social index has also been on a steady increase, with a drastic change between 1994 and 1995 (from 58 to 71) and further increases from then onwards.

Political globalisation in Malta, on the other hand, has been rather unstable, with the index at an all-time high in 1979, 1999 and 2000 (29) and a stagnant period between 1988 and 1996. In 2005, as in 2004, the figure stood at 18.

According to the new calculations, Belgium and Austria have been on top of the globalisation ranking since 2001. On the bottom of the 2008 ranking are Burundi, Myanmar, and Rwanda.

Countries at the bottom of the ranking consistently score lower across all three dimensions.

The degree of globalisation in the ten least globalised countries is about one third of the ten most globalised ones.

Regarding economic globalisation – and in line with the results for previous years – Singapore shows the highest score.

Luxembourg ranks second, followed by Belgium and Malta – all of them small open economies. Least globalised in economic terms are Niger, Burundi, and Iran.

The social globalisation ranking is headed by Switzerland, Austria, Singapore, and Belgium, while Myanmar, Mali, Niger, and Bangladesh are at the bottom of the ranking.

According to the political sub-index of globalisation, France is the world’s most globalised country.

The USA, Russia and Italy are also among the most politically globalised countries, while the Bahamas, Burundi, Barbados and Belize show the lowest political globalisation score.