Many Asian countries, including China, still lag behind in producing, attracting and retaining professional talent, said a report released on Tuesday by INSEAD, one of the world's leading and largest graduate business schools.

According to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index, China ranked 47th among the 103 countries covered by the research. The 103 countries represent 86.3 percent of the world's population and 96.7 percent of the world's GDP.

Singapore, which ranked second, was the only Asian country to make it into the top 20 in the index. Even the developed northern Asian countries are not in this year's top 20 list. Japan charted at 21st, Korea at 28th and Malaysia at 37th.

“Talent competitiveness provides a contrasted vision of Asia”, said Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director for Global Indices at INSEAD. “Singapore is far ahead of everyone else, but some countries like Malaysia show that you do not need to be rich to be talent competitive.”

European countries dominated the 2013 rankings with Switzerland taking the lead. The top 10 included only two non-European countries, Singapore and the United States at ninth.

Within Europe, it is mostly the northern part of the continent that appears to be most talent competitive. The top ranked nations all have many aspects in common, including a long-standing commitment to quality education (UK, Switzerland, Finland, and Sweden), a strong history of immigration (US, Australia) and a clear strategy to grow and attract the best and brightest (Singapore).

Paul Evans, the Shell Chaired Professor of Human Resources and Organisational Development, Emeritus, at INSEAD, and co-editor of the report noted: “There are differences among the 103 countries covered by the index: rich countries need more global knowledge skills to foster innovation and a job-rich recovery; developing countries still need the labor and vocational skills required to build infrastructure, health and education systems. But all of them have to build better environments to grow, attract and retain the skills and talents they need.”

The report is the first edition of the index, created from joint research by INSEAD, the Human Capital Leadership Institute of Singapore and Switzerland-based Adecco Group, a leading provider of HR solutions.