Canada ranked 2nd best country in the world in 2017

Mar 7 2017, 9:46 pm

For the second year in a row, Canada has been named the #2 best country in the world.

The study, conducted by U.S. News in partnership with Y&R’s BAV and Wharton, gives Canada the number two ranking on a list of 80 countries, only trailing his year’s #1 country, Switzerland.

Canada second best country

Interestingly, Switzerland was not previously ranked when the inaugural list of the world’s best countries was released last year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Meanwhile, last year’s #1 country, Germany, fell back to the 4th overall spot in 2017.

Canada also came in #1 for Quality of Life for the second straight year as well as #4 for Citizenship (it was #2 in citizenship in 2016).

The methodology behind the rankings can be broken down as follows:

A set of 65 country attributes – terms that can be used to describe a country and that are also relevant to the success of a modern nation – were identified. Attributes by nation were presented in a survey of more than 21,000 people from across the globe. Participants assessed how closely they associated an attribute with a nation.

The attributes were then placed into nine subcategories which combined to create the best country rankings. The subcategories and their overall contribution are:

  • Adventure (3.24 percent): friendly, fun, pleasant climate, scenic, sexy
  • Citizenship (16.95 percent): cares about human rights, cares about the environment, gender equality, progressive, religious freedom, respects property rights, trustworthy, well-distributed political power
  • Cultural Influence (12.93 percent): culturally significant in terms of entertainment, fashionable, happy, has an influential culture, modern, prestigious, trendy
  • Entrepreneurship (17.42 percent): connected to the rest of the world, educated population, entrepreneurial, innovative, provides easy access to capital, skilled labor force, technological expertise, transparent business
    practices, well-developed infrastructure, well-developed legal framework
  • Heritage (3.17 percent): culturally accessible, has a rich history, has great food, many cultural attractions
  • Movers (10.00 percent): different, distinctive, dynamic, unique
  • Open for Business (11.99 percent): bureaucratic, cheap manufacturing costs, corrupt, favorable tax environment, transparent government practices
  • Power (7.42 percent): a leader, economically influential, politically influential, strong international alliances, strong military
  • Quality of Life (16.89 percent): a good job market, affordable, economically stable, family friendly, income equality, politically stable, safe, well-developed public education system, well-developed public health system

In the three most heavily weighted categories, Citizenship, Entrepreneurship, and Quality of Life, Canada ranked #4, #7, and #1 respectively.

Not too shabby.

See also

Here are the 25 best countries to live in the world in 2017

  1. Switzerland
  2. Canada
  3. United Kingdom
  4. Germany
  5. Japan
  6. Sweden
  7. United States of America
  8. Australia
  9. France
  10. Norway
  11. Netherlands
  12. Denmark
  13. Finland
  14. New Zealand
  15. Singapore
  16. Italy
  17. Luxembourg
  18. Austria
  19. Spain
  20. China
  21. Ireland
  22. United Arab Emirates
  23. South Korea
  24. Portugal
  25. India
Daily Hive StaffDaily Hive Staff

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