The UK is among the strongest nations globally for people with leadership potential, but faces something of a shortage compared with other competitor economies in this area.

This is according to talent assessment firm SHL’s first Global Leadership study, which analysed over one million candidates from across the world in the company’s Talent Analytics database.

Only Hong Kong (14%) and Germany (13%) have a larger number of effective leaders, as defined by SHL criteria, in their workforce today compared with the UK, which has 10% of its workforce as effective leaders, the same number as in the US, Australia, Canada and Switzerland.

Of the 25 countries survey, Brazil, Denmark and Norway have least leadership potential, at just 5% of the workforce.

However, the UK comes just 21st overall in terms of potential leaders for tomorrow, with Mexico (54%) and Turkey (50%) having the most promise, despite having scored relatively lowly on the present-day index.

Paul Levett, chief product officer at SHL, says: “Despite having a strong supply of leaders for today, the UK has a leadership time bomb on its hands if it doesn’t invest in learning and development to cultivate its potential leaders and remain competitive.

“Rising education standards and a culture of entrepreneurialism are some of the factors that are driving emerging economies such as Brazil, India, Mexico and Turkey up the rankings for future leadership potential.”