Canada ranks #2 for best country

With the recent spotlight on Canada, and political turmoil in other parts of the Western World, it’s no wonder that Canada has ranked as the second best country, overall, in the world by U.S. News Rankings

U.S. News annually releases rankings on the best countries in the world and rates them in different categories with Overall Best Countries being the top award.

“Globalization has expanded a country’s presence beyond its physical borders, and the 2017 Best Countries rankings seek to understand a nation’s worth beyond hard metrics.

“The 2017 Best Countries report and rankings are based on how global perceptions define countries in terms of a number of qualitative characteristics, impressions that have the potential to drive trade, travel, and investment and directly affect national economies,” stated the US News website.

The news organization ranked 80 countries across 24 rankings by surveying more than 21,000 global citizens. Countries are reduced to 80, in order to make the data manageable, by comparing countries political and economic institutions. The 80 countries chosen had to meet a number of benchmarks.

Then, countries were graded on nine sections, each of which was further divided. Each section was allotted a percentage of points from a total score of approximately 100. These categories included Adventure, Citizenship, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power and Quality of Life.

Canada came in second for overall best country, just behind Switzerland.

Canada also scored the top points and ranked number one for the Quality of Life category. This category was judged on the basis of a country being economically stable, good job market, affordable, safe, politically stable and family-friendly.

Canada also scored highly in the Citizenship category, getting a score of 9.6 and ranking fourth. This category analyzed the human rights, religious freedoms and property rights a country gives to its citizens.

On the flip side, Canada’s worst category was Heritage, scoring a 2.5 and ranking 41st. The subcategories were cultural attractions, culturally accessible, rich history and good food.

To take a closer look at the full list of rankings click here