The national competitiveness today is not just an object of large amounts of scientific works but also a popular concept among business leaders, economists and politics. However, wide usage of the concept is not always based on the clearly defined contents of the word. Different meanings of the national competitiveness concept cause a lot of misunderstandings and this is just deepening discussions and requirements to find one definition, clear for everyone. According to this necessity it is important to analyse evolution tendencies of the national competitiveness content because it is not a new phenomenon. The interest why some countries are more competitive than others arose already in XVI century.The article discusses the reasons of growing interest in national competitiveness, reviews historical evolution of the national competitiveness concept and identifies the most important aspects explaining national competitiveness today.