Sweden tops new PwC ESCAPE index, with Australia, China, Chile, Poland, Russia and Romania among the rising stars

Feb 06, 2014 EST

Despite the global financial crisis, most emerging markets have continued to make progress since 2007 in their bid to escape the 'middle income trap', according to PwC's new ESCAPE index.

Central and Eastern European countries such as Poland, Romania and Russia have shown particularly strong rises since 2000. The advanced economies as a whole have fallen back since the global financial crisis hit in 2007, with the notable exception of Australia.