All three of these countries score high across the board, particularly in such areas as innovation and R&D, social inclusion and measures of sustainable development, according to the World Economic Forum's Lisbon Review 2006.

The review assesses the progress made by the EU member countries in the far-reaching goals of the EU’s Lisbon Strategy of economic and structural reforms. The goals intend to make the European Union “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.”

Among Europe’s largest economies, Germany ranks fifth whereas Great Britain and France take over sixth and ninth rankings respectively.

The US scores better than the EU on average as measured by the Lisbon criteria. The US does not score as well as the six top-ranked EU countries (the three Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom).

In the area of innovation, widely recognized as critical for economic growth and competitiveness for countries at advanced stages of development, the US has higher scores than all countries, including the Nordic countries.

More information at Lisbon Review 2006