Best Countries 2018 Global rankings, international news and data insights Copyright © 2018 U.S.News & World Report LP All rights reserved. 1 Best Countries Overall Rankings 2018 Overall Rank Heritage Movers Open for Business Power Quality of Life 7 27 28 2 17 6 4 11 40 32 7 12 1 58 10 14 21 35 19 4 10 4 40 11 5 11 51 20 5 13 Japan 2 38 19 6 12 5 26 7 14 Sweden 6 20 5 10 37 42 5 19 3 Australia 13 11 8 9 28 22 14 16 5 3 33 16 3 22 29 43 1 17 14 14 14 2 4 47 27 6 16 9 15 7 12 24 53 9 21 8 Denmark 11 35 3 16 39 58 4 27 2 Norway 10 26 1 22 44 37 8 26 4 New Zealand 19 7 9 18 43 11 10 35 9 Finland 15 30 6 25 49 38 6 42 7 Italy 21 2 20 1 1 30 45 18 22 8 34 23 13 32 3 13 24 18 Austria 18 23 12 24 17 69 16 29 11 Luxembourg 17 45 13 27 51 67 1 31 12 Spain 22 3 17 4 2 49 32 23 19 China 16 57 38 21 10 4 33 3 21 Ireland 20 13 15 28 20 48 11 37 15 South Korea 12 62 26 30 48 15 25 11 24 United Arab Emirates 23 67 30 17 67 1 67 10 25 Portugal 26 10 18 26 9 71 24 38 20 India 28 37 51 29 6 2 29 15 32 Country Entrepreneurship Adventure Citizenship Switzerland 5 17 2 Canada 7 18 Germany 1 United Kingdom United States France Netherlands Singapore Copyright © 2017 U.S. News & World Report LP. 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Cultural Influence 2 Best Countries Overall Rankings 2018 Overall Rank Heritage Movers Open for Business Power Quality of Life 23 16 8 80 2 38 52 19 8 6 15 49 30 5 25 15 3 24 55 52 29 37 1 31 8 14 9 60 30 52 Israel 25 70 33 40 29 10 64 8 35 Mexico 40 9 41 20 5 27 41 39 42 Poland 27 50 21 45 25 80 31 48 23 Czech Republic 29 44 22 46 31 75 40 69 26 Malaysia 34 29 54 44 36 20 12 59 28 Qatar 30 76 49 34 80 12 38 20 48 Turkey 36 27 58 31 7 25 77 14 46 Saudi Arabia 31 78 64 38 57 14 78 9 41 Hungary 32 48 24 49 23 79 30 73 27 South Africa 33 25 40 36 33 18 61 28 62 Argentina 39 8 28 32 18 46 68 53 56 Indonesia 43 31 62 43 30 23 22 47 34 Egypt 56 42 75 33 13 7 73 25 70 Peru 67 21 45 42 19 19 23 72 49 Vietnam 52 43 69 52 26 13 28 34 40 Costa Rica 62 6 42 39 52 40 17 77 47 Dominican Republic 66 12 43 37 55 44 18 74 45 Morocco 63 32 71 35 15 17 50 60 53 Panama 47 28 44 51 65 65 3 64 55 Philippines 45 16 55 41 47 34 34 55 37 Croatia 42 24 27 47 35 60 49 76 33 Country Entrepreneurship Adventure Citizenship Russia 24 56 39 Thailand 38 4 Greece 35 Brazil Copyright © 2017 U.S. News & World Report LP. 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Cultural Influence 3 Best Countries Overall Rankings 2018 Overall Rank Heritage Movers Open for Business Power Quality of Life 53 46 16 21 67 54 37 48 34 56 37 68 43 55 32 67 59 74 35 80 36 44 46 35 56 38 78 51 71 39 Colombia 58 19 47 50 42 41 62 56 65 Bulgaria 53 54 36 70 53 76 36 75 31 Kenya 73 47 59 54 61 31 44 61 57 Uruguay 54 41 34 58 54 70 46 78 50 Latvia 50 60 29 72 71 68 48 79 44 Ecuador 60 36 50 61 60 54 39 70 59 Bahrain 46 75 65 55 78 45 47 43 61 Tanzania 80 53 63 59 74 26 52 62 69 Myanmar 75 61 77 66 62 21 65 50 58 Azerbaijan 64 66 60 74 63 33 56 45 67 Tunisia 69 52 76 60 50 62 53 66 51 Guatemala 77 49 57 68 66 61 42 65 68 Bolivia 78 51 56 69 69 52 54 58 63 Jordan 65 69 72 64 45 39 72 32 75 Ukraine 48 59 46 62 58 66 75 33 72 Kazakhstan 71 73 68 76 72 36 70 41 64 Ghana 74 68 67 73 77 55 57 63 66 Belarus 51 63 48 65 70 73 76 36 60 Oman 57 77 66 63 75 50 69 46 74 Pakistan 68 79 79 75 68 59 66 22 71 Lebanon 61 65 73 57 41 57 74 40 79 Country Entrepreneurship Adventure Citizenship Sri Lanka 59 39 61 Chile 49 22 Slovenia 41 Romania Copyright © 2017 U.S. News & World Report LP. All rights reserved. Cultural Influence 4 Best Countries Overall Rankings 2018 Overall Rank Country Heritage Movers Open for Business Power Quality of Life 71 76 63 59 44 77 80 78 56 43 79 13 80 64 53 77 64 77 71 51 73 76 74 70 79 79 64 58 57 76 79 72 74 80 73 72 63 54 78 Entrepreneurship Adventure Citizenship Nigeria 70 71 78 Iran 72 80 Serbia 55 Angola Algeria Copyright © 2017 U.S. News & World Report LP. All rights reserved. Cultural Influence 5 Best Countries Overall Rankings 2018 How We Score The subrankings, their weights in calculating the overall ranking score and the country attributes factored into each are below. The country attribute scores were equally weighted within each subranking. Subranking weights do not add up to precisely 100.00 due to rounding. Adventure (3.24%): Friendly, fun, pleasant climate, scenic, sexy Citizenship (16.95%): Cares about human rights, cares about the environment, gender equality, progressive, religious freedom, respects property rights, trustworthy, welldistributed political power Cultural Influence (12.93%): Culturally significant in terms of entertainment, fashionable, happy, has an influential culture, modern, prestigious, trendy Entrepreneurship (17.42%): 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 Copyright © 2018 U.S.News & World Report LP All rights reserved. Heritage (3.17%): Culturally accessible, has a rich history, has great food, many cultural attractions Movers (10.00%): Different, distinctive, dynamic, unique Open for Business (11.99%): Bureaucratic, cheap manufacturing costs, corrupt, favorable tax environment, transparent government practices Power (7.42%): A leader, economically influential, politically influential, strong international alliances, strong military Quality of Life (16.89%): A good job market, affordable, economically stable, family friendly, income equality, politically stable, safe, well-developed public education system, well-developed public health system 3 Best Countries Overall Rankings 2018 Methodology Behind a country’s wealth and success are the policies that create possibilities, the people that drive the effort and the history that shapes the environment and perspective. Globalization has expanded a country’s presence beyond its physical borders, and the 2018 Best Countries rankings seek to understand a nation’s worth beyond hard metrics. The 2018 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. Eighty nations – up from 60 in the inaugural rankings – were measured in the report. Ranking the Countries U.S. News & World Report worked with partners at WPP’s brand strategy firm BAV Consulting and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania to identify a set of 65 country attributes - terms that could be used to describe a country and that are also relevant to the success of a modern nation. Attributes by nation were presented in a survey where participants assessed how closely they associated one with the other. The study and model was developed by John Gerzema, David Reibstein and Anna Blender. Copyright © 2018 U.S.News & World Report LP All rights reserved. Each country was scored on each of the 65 country attributes based on a collection of individual survey responses. The more a country was perceived to exemplify a certain characteristic in relation to the average, the higher that country’s attribute score and vice versa. These scores were normalized to account for outliers and transformed into a scale that could be compared across the board. Attributes were grouped into nine subrankings that rolled into the Best Countries ranking: Adventure, Citizenship, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power and Quality of Life. These thematic subrankings were formed by grouping country attributes that had similar global trends in survey responses. Subranking scores for each country were determined by averaging scores that country received in each of the attributes comprising each subranking. To determine the weight each subranking score had in the overall Best Countries score, each was correlated to 2014 gross domestic product purchasing power parity per capita, a measure of inclusive prosperity, as reported by the International Monetary Fund. More prevalent relationships that demonstrated an interconnectedness with the wealth metric were weighted more. 4 Best Countries Overall Rankings 2018 The Movers subranking represents a version of BAV’s BrandAsset Valuator Model of Brand Building, a metric developed by BAV that is predictive of a country’s future growth in terms of gross domestic product purchasing power parity per capita. Instead of one year of data, it was correlated to predicted growth of the metric from 2014 to 2020. To arrive at a country’s rank, we first calculated its standardized scores in each of the 65 country attributes. Each country received nine subranking scores by averaging its scores for the country attributes grouped into that subranking. A country’s overall score reflects the weighted sum of its subranking scores. The subranking and overall scores were rescaled so that the top country in each category received a value of 100, and others were calculated as a proportion of that top score. Scores were ranked in descending order. Additional lists rank the countries on more specific topics, such as the Best Countries for Women and the Best Countries for Education. Groups of relevant country attribute data were used to score and rank countries for these lists, but they do not affect the overall Best Countries score or ranking. Choosing Survey Participants those who would deem the topic and findings most relevant to their lives. Self-identification in demographic questions distinguished respondents into three defined groups: informed elites college educated individuals who consider themselves middle class or higher and who read or watch the news at least four days a week; business decision-makers senior leaders in an organization or small business owners who employ others; and general public - adults at least 18 years old who were nationally representative of their country in terms of age and gender. Individuals who were likely to fit these descriptions were targeted and sent the link to an online survey through Lightspeed GMI, a global market research and data collection firm. We aimed to gather an equal share of responses from each type of citizen. A total of 21,117 individuals from 36 countries in four regions - the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East and Africa - were surveyed. Of the respondents, 6,016 were informed elites and 6,489 were business decision-makers. Some respondents were considered both informed elites and business decisionmakers. Regardless of demographics or participant type, each individual’s responses weighed equally in the results. To understand how countries are perceived, we endeavored to survey engaged citizens who were broadly representative of the global population, with an emphasis on Copyright © 2018 U.S.News & World Report LP All rights reserved. 5 Best Countries Overall Rankings 2018 Data Source: About the Survey Survey participants were given a random subset of countries and country attributes to consider. The combinations were presented in a grid form where participants were prompted to check off the characteristics they associated with each country. If a participant indicated that they were not familiar with a country, it was removed from their survey. Each participant considered about half of the country attributes for about a third of the countries. In this way, each attribute and country pair was reviewed at least 270 times per constituency/region combination. The more times an attributecountry pair was checked off in the grid, the higher the attribute score was for that country. In addition to considering countries in terms of attributes, each survey participant was asked to assess their randomly assigned subset of countries in additional engagement and intention metrics, including travel, doing business and general regard. A set of standard demographic questions helped to screen for global diversity and equal weight among participant groups Choosing the Countries to Rank We narrowed the world’s nations down to a statistically manageable group by comparing the performance of countries in Copyright © 2018 U.S.News & World Report LP All rights reserved. a number of key business, economic and quality of life indicators. The 80 countries in the 2018 Best Countries rankings had to meet four benchmarks within the last two years for which data are available to be assessed in survey and included in the rankings: 1. Top 100 countries in terms of gross domestic product in 2015 or 2014, based on World Bank Data 2. Top 150 countries in the UN’s Human Development Index, based on the 2015 or 2014 report 3. Top 100 countries in terms of foreign direct investment inflows in 2014 or 2013, based on United Nations data 4. Top 100 countries in terms of international tourism receipts in 2014 or international tourism arrivals in 2013, based on World Bank data Those that did not reach all four of these benchmarks and those that did not report these statistics were not included. Collectively, the 80 countries in the report account for about 95 percent of global gross domestic product and represent more than 80 percent of the world’s population. They span the globe, covering Africa, Asia, Central America, Eurasia, Europe, the Middle East, North America, Oceania and South America. 6 Best Countries Overall Rankings 2018 Methodology FAQ Some of the country attributes reflect more unfavorable aspects of a country. Could high scores on these attributes help raise a country’s score or rank? Scores for the negative country attributes - bureaucratic and corrupt - were inverted when calculated into the sub-ranking and overall scores. In this way, the countries that were the most closely associated with these attributes performed worse. Were there ties? No, scores were calculated in relation to each other in a way that did not allow for ties Could survey participants answer about their country of residence or citizenship? Yes. Survey participants could answer about any country that was randomly assigned to them as long as they did not indicate that they were not familiar with that country. The survey refers to 65 country attributes, but there are not that many listed. Correct. Eight country attributes were not included in any of the sub-rankings and therefore do not factor into the overall Best Countries score or rank. These data may be used in additional analysis. Eighty countries were reviewed in a survey to create these rankings. People from 36 countries answered that survey. In many cases, countries overlapped, but the survey was fielded in some countries that were not ranked and vice versa. Why are a few rankings missing some countries? In the Best Countries to Invest In and Best Countries to Start a Career, we thought it was best to compare survey responses between two types of participants. Countries with low initial scores were excluded from the list as the comparison would create misleading results. Neither of these lists affect the overall Best Countries scores or ranking. Where can I learn more about the study and the model? See the answers to some frequently asked questions here, and contact pr@ usnews.com to reach U.S. News. Our partners advise governments, corporations and NGO’s on nation branding including bespoke country analysis and other reports. Professor David Reibstein can be reached at reibstein@wharton.upenn. edu. John Gerzema is at jgerzema@ bavconsulting.com and Anna Blender is at ablender@bavconsulting.com. For more information see http://bavconsulting.com/ nationbranding. This methodology mentions a group of 80 countries and a group of 36 countries. What’s the difference? Copyright © 2018 U.S.News & World Report LP All rights reserved. 7 Best Countries Overall Rankings 2018 FAQ What is Best Countries? Best Countries is a dynamic, multimedia portal that includes rankings, video content, interactive data visualization tools, original reporting and op-eds from international thought leaders. The content leverages data derived from a proprietary survey produced in partnership with U.S. News & World Report, Y&R’s BAV Consulting and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The 2018 Best Countries rankings include an overall list of 80 nations numerically ranked – up from 60 in the inaugural edition – as well as nine subrankings: Citizenship, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Quality of Life, Power, Heritage, Open for Business, Movers and Adventure. Additional “Best of” lists were produced, including the countries that are best to headquarter a corporation, raise a family, receive an education, invest in, and more. Why rank countries? 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, Copyright © 2018 U.S.News & World Report LP All rights reserved. it has become increasingly valuable to understand how a nation’s policies, politics and products affect its perceived standing in the world. Perceptions have an impact on the willingness of people to invest in, conduct trade in and travel to nations, thereby having a direct impact on national economies. The data behind the rankings can help determine the current and future possibilities of economic, political and cultural success in a nation and can be used as a strategic decision-making tool for citizens, business leaders and governments to better evaluate their countries. The rankings are the centerpiece of the Best Countries portal that combines daily journalism, op-eds and video content from experts in government, business and academia to offer a range of perspectives and analysis on global issues, including foreign policy, immigration, human rights, security and more. How is this different from existing country rankings? Best Countries was produced using a proprietary survey and methodology developed in partnership with U.S. News, Y&R’s BAV Consulting and the Wharton School. It is the only study of this magnitude to evaluate how perceptions 8 Best Countries Overall Rankings 2018 about countries impact a nation’s economy. The Best Countries rankings are based on 75 metrics, making it the most comprehensive global evaluation of nations to date. The breadth and depth of the proprietary survey uncovers exclusive trends and correlations that tell new stories about nations. The methodology was inspired by Y&R’s BrandAsset® Valuator Model of Brand Equity, the world’s largest and longest running study of brands, uniquely tying the Best Countries rankings to a proven model of measuring perceptions. What role did each partner play in producing Best Countries? U.S. News, the global authority in rankings, news and analysis, designed and hosts the online platform. It leads the daily editorial direction of the website. BAV Consulting, a subsidiary of Y&R – one of the world’s leading and most iconic marketing companies – led market research for 2018 Best Countries, using their proprietary BrandAsset® Valuator, the world’s largest brand management tool and database of consumer perceptions of brands. The Wharton School’s SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management, one of the world’s first think tanks for management education, oversaw the methodology’s development. Copyright © 2018 U.S.News & World Report LP All rights reserved. All three partners were involved in producing the proprietary survey and methodology used in the global study. How were the countries ranked? New this year, the Best Countries rankings have been expanded to evaluate 80 countries – up from 60 last year. Nations were ranked using data fielded from a proprietary perception survey developed by U.S. News, BAV Consulting and the Wharton School. Perception data were derived from a survey of more than 21,000 respondents – general population, informed elites and business decision makers – across 36 countries in four regions: the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. The surveys were conducted using Y&R’s proprietary BrandAsset Valuator®, the world’s largest database of consumer perceptions of brands. Respondents were asked to share their perceptions of 80 nations in terms of specific country characteristics, or attributes. These attributes were scored individually and separated into nine thematic groupings that had similar trends in survey responses. The relative importance, or weight, given to each of the nine subrankings was based on the magnitude of that subranking’s correlation with gross domestic product per capita purchasing power and rolled into one overall Best Countries ranking. See the methodology for more details. 9 Best Countries Overall Rankings 2018 How were the 80 countries chosen? Collectively, the 80 nations represented in the 2018 Best Countries rankings account for nearly 95 percent of global gross domestic product and represent more than 80 percent of the world’s population. These countries were selected based on composite performance in key business, economic and quality of life data. Nations included in the 2018 rankings had to meet four benchmarks within the last two years for which data are available: • Top 100 countries in terms of gross domestic product in 2014 or 2013, based on World Bank data. • Top 100 countries in terms of foreign direct investment inflows in 2014 or 2013, based on United Nations data. • Top 150 countries in the UN’s Human Development Index, based on the 2015 or 2014 report. • Top 100 countries in terms of international tourism receipts in 2014 or international tourism arrivals in 2013, based on World Bank data. This is a change from the 2016 edition in which countries were required to reach the benchmark in the single most recent year for which data were available to be included in the ranking. In future reports, the aim is to expand the Copyright © 2018 U.S.News & World Report LP All rights reserved. Best Countries rankings in ways that will make the methodology as comprehensive as possible. See the methodology for more details. Are the rankings objective? To ensure the objectivity of the ranking methodology, each of the subranking variables was weighted based on its correlation with the gross domestic product per capita purchasing power. Variables with higher correlations to gross domestic product per capita purchasing power were weighted more heavily. To keep the rankings comparable, the Best Countries ranking only included nations that reached benchmarks on four composite performance rankings: the United Nation’s Top 100 countries in terms of foreign direct investment inflows, the Top 150 Countries in the UN’s Human Development Index, the World Bank’s Top 100 Countries in terms of GDP and the World Bank’s top 100 countries in terms of international tourism. To make the rankings comprehensive, perception data were derived from a survey of more than 21,000 respondents – including the general population, informed elites and business decision makers – across 36 countries in four regions: the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. Who should I email with questions? For questions about Best Countries, please email pr@usnews.com. 10