Canada Named 2nd Best Country in the World (2018)

January 19, 2018
By Cody Battershill

U.S. News & Reports: Canada is 2nd in the World!

Canada has ranked as the second best country in the world, according to the Best Country list by U.S. News and World Reports. The only country to surpass the North American country was Switzerland.

It’s the 3rd consecutive year that Canada has placed 2nd on the list with this years’ version evaluating 65 different sub categories for 80 world countries.

Note that all top 5 countries: Switzerland, Canada, Germany, the U.K. and Japan are nations with progressive environmental and social policies.

See the full U.S. News & World Reports Best Country list here.

Top 10 Best World Countries in 2018

#1 – Switzerland

#2 – Canada

#3 – Germany

#4 – United Kingdom

#5 – Japan

#6 – Sweden

#7 – Australia

#8 – United States

#9 – France

#10 – Netherlands

Top 10 Worst World Countries in 2018

#70 – Kazakhstan

#71 – Ghana

#72 – Belarus

#73 – Oman

#74 – Pakistan

#75 – Lebanon

#76 – Nigeria

#77 – Iran

#78 – Serbia

#79 – Angola

#80 - Algeria

Ranking Methodology

To determine the rankings, a variety of social, economic and political indicators were evaluated. Paired with Canada’s individual scores, they are:

Adventure – Score: 4.4, Rank: #18

Citizenship – Score: 9.7, Rank: #4

Cultural Influence – Score: 5.1, Rank: #11

Entrepreneurship – Score: 8.6, Rank: #7

Heritage – Score: 2.5, Rank: #40

Movers – Score: 3.5, Rank: #32

Open for Business – Score: 8.0, Rank: #7

Power – Score: 4.4, Rank: #12

Quality of Life – Score: 10.0, Rank: #1

Each of these have multiple sub-categories with 65 in total across the 9 listed above. Some have more then others, therefore some are also weighted much more.

For example, the entrepreneurship category has 10 subs and the quality of life has 9, while adventure, movers and heritage have 5 or less. Canada managed to score very well in categories with the most influence on rankings, placing the nation as 2nd overall with an overall score of 9.9 out of 10.0.

Overview of Canada

According to the U.S. News and World Reports website, Canadians take pride in encouraging citizens to honour their individual cultures. It also says that Canadian culture is largely connected to the great wilderness to the north and that its welcoming nature towards immigrants plays a key role in its identity.

The report mentions Canada’s adoption of a national multiculturalism policy in 1971 and accomplished list of writers and artists as well as the high-tech industrial society and high standard of living as fundamental in its ranking.

Some challenges outlined by the Best Country list includes those related to the concerns of indigenous people and those of the French-speaking parts of Quebec. It mentions that the push for independence from Quebec comes and goes and is a province that often feels disunified with the rest of the predominantly English-speaking provinces.

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