Switzerland is ranked best country in the world for 2018

The results of a new global report ranking the best countries around the world have been revealed, with Switzerland coming out as the top pick for the second year in a row.

Compiled by U.S. News and World Report, the ranking evaluated 80 countries, with over 21,000 global citizens being interviewed as part of the survey. Each country was marked on nine individual attributes; entrepreneurship, adventure, citizenship, cultural influence, heritage, movers, open for business, power, and quality of life, with the results from each category being correlated and compared against other nations. Switzerland proved to be the top pick overall, earning large points for its quality of life, business opportunities, and the culture surrounding citizenship.

For the second year in a row, Canada claimed the second position in the overall ranking, followed by Germany, which proved to be the best country in the world for entrepreneurship, while the United Kingdom was fourth, followed by Japan, Sweden, Australia, the United States, France and The Netherlands.

Brazil came out on top in the category of Adventure, followed by Italy and Spain, while Italy also scooped the top position in the report when it came to cultural influence and heritage. According to the survey, Norway is the best country in the world for citizenship, with the sub-ranking focusing on the issues of human rights, environmental cares, gender equality, trustworthiness and well-distributed political power. Canada claimed the title of best country in the world for quality of life, earning points for its economic stability, well-developed public health system, safety and job market.

“The Best Countries project is designed to help citizens, business leaders and policymakers better understand how their nations are perceived on a world scale. As a growing number of businesses and people have the ability to choose where in the world to invest their time and money, it has become increasingly valuable to understand how a nation’s policies, politics and products affect its perceived standing in the world,” U.S. News and World Report said about the new report.

More information, including the full breakdown of results, is available at the U.S. News and World Report website.