The 17 best countries in the world for people who want to run their own businesses — and enjoy a high quality of life
- US News & World Report has released its fifth annual Best Countries list, which ranks 73 countries based on global perceptions.
- US News partnered with BAV Group and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School to evaluate each country on 65 attributes grouped into nine subrankings. Over 20,000 people hailing from 36 countries were surveyed.
- Entrepreneurship and Quality of Life carried the most weight when determining rankings.
- Ten out of the top 17 countries are in Europe. Switzerland placed No. 1 for the fourth year in a row, and the UK dropped out of the top five for the first time. Four Nordic countries made the cut.
- Canada replaced Japan in the No. 2 spot — good news for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle!
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For the fifth year in a row, US News & World Report has released their ranking of the best countries in world.
For 2020, US News ranked 73 countries based on global perceptions. In partnership with BAV Group and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, US News surveyed over 20,000 people across the globe and evaluated countries on 65 metrics.
To secure a place on this year’s list, countries had to rank among the top 150 countries in the world in the 2017 U.N. Human Development Index as well as among the top 100 countries in terms of GDP, foreign direct investment inflows, and international tourism receipts, according to 2017 World Bank data. Countries that did not meet these four criteria or that didn’t report this data were excluded.
US News sent its survey to participants that would be “broadly representative of the global population.” Those that participated hailed from 36 countries across the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
The 65 metrics on which countries were evaluated were grouped into nine subrankings: adventure, citizenship, cultural influence, entrepreneurship, heritage, movers, open for business, power, and quality of life. Each subranking carried a different weight in contributing to the final ranking, with Entrepreneurship and Quality of Life yielding the most influence — 17.87% and 16.77%, respectively.
Here, in ascending order, are the top 17 countries:
