Pakistan has moved up four places to 95th among 139 economies in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2026, according to a report released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The country was 99th in the 2025 edition. The result also returns Pakistan to the group of innovation “overperformers” for the fourth time.
Overperformers are economies whose innovation results are higher than would be expected for their level of economic development. Pakistan previously earned this designation in 2022 and 2024, and it had not appeared in the group in 2025. WIPO said the latest ranking reflects particular strengths in mobile app creation, exports of information and communication technology (ICT) services, high-tech imports and software spending.
Digital economy drives Pakistan’s climb in the index
WIPO said Pakistan’s strongest results were concentrated in its digital economy. The report placed the country 10th globally in mobile app creation, 15th in ICT services exports, 19th in high-tech imports and 33rd in software spending. It described these as relatively strong indicators that support the country’s developing digital sector.
The report also ranked Pakistan 49th in scientific production and 47th in university quality. Taken together, these figures formed part of the picture WIPO drew of a country with pockets of real strength. Its overall position, however, still depended on a range of other measures.
Gap between innovation inputs and outputs narrows
The report showed a wide difference between Pakistan’s innovation inputs and its outputs. Inputs cover the resources and conditions that support innovation, and Pakistan ranked 121st in this area. Its outputs, which reflect the results those resources produced, placed it 72nd.
Both positions improved on the previous year, when Pakistan was 124th for inputs and 75th for outputs. WIPO said that Pakistan was among the economies producing more innovation output than expected from relatively limited inputs. Its performance sat above the level predicted by its input score, though the report stressed the need for more balanced innovation systems.
The report said: “Innovation overperformance shows that innovation does not follow a straight line from income to results.” It added that economies could produce more innovation than expected for their stage of development by building on focused strengths. WIPO identified 21 overperformers in 2026, four more than in the previous edition.
India and Vietnam were the longest-standing members of the group, having kept the status for 16 consecutive years. Pakistan returned to the list alongside Mozambique and Moldova, while Bhutan joined for the first time. Among 36 lower-middle-income economies, Pakistan ranked 15th, and among 11 countries in Central and Southern Asia it ranked eighth.
Regional and global standings in the 2026 index
India remained the leading innovation economy in the region and ranked 38th globally. Kazakhstan followed at 73rd, Bhutan at 74th and Uzbekistan at 77th. Sri Lanka stood at 94th, one place ahead of Pakistan, while Nepal was 104th and Bangladesh 105th.
At the top of the global table, Switzerland retained first place for the 16th consecutive year. Sweden and the United States came next. South Korea was fourth and Singapore fifth, while China placed 10th, Japan 12th and Hong Kong 14th. WIPO said the leading economies were broadly unchanged from 2025, with no new country entering the top 15.
Europe accounted for 14 of the world’s 25 leading innovation economies, and five Asian economies appeared in the top 25. The report also looked closely at India, which ranked 25th globally for innovation outputs but 49th for inputs. Its ICT services exports ranked first, and its late-stage venture capital deals ranked fourth.
Pillars, global trends and Pakistan’s ranking history
The index assesses economies across seven pillars: institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs, and creative outputs. According to the report, Pakistan did not feature among the leading economies in any individual pillar. It also did not appear among the world’s top 100 innovation clusters.
WIPO said emerging economies such as Pakistan could build on existing strengths to improve their overall performance. Countries seeking to rise further, it said, needed to strengthen research capacity, university quality, business research and development, patenting, and links between scientific institutions and industry.
The report noted that progress worldwide had slowed, even though most indicators continued to advance. About three-quarters of global innovation indicators remained below their decade-long averages. Global research and development spending stayed at a historic high, with R&D intensity close to two per cent of gross domestic product, and investment linked to artificial intelligence continued to drive growth, the report said.
Pakistan’s ranking has moved considerably over the past seven years. It stood at 107th in 2020 and improved to 99th in 2021. Its best result came in 2022, when it reached 87th, before slipping to 88th in 2023 and 91st in 2024. It fell to 99th in 2025 and has now recovered to 95th.
The 2026 index draws mainly on data from 2024 to 2026, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of its data points. WIPO cautioned that changes in methodology and data availability can affect year-to-year comparisons of rankings.
