We’re a long way away from Canada Day — both in terms of the calendar and the weather — but here’s something to celebrate today.
According to the 2020 Best Countries report by US News & World Report, Canada is the second best country in the world.
The Great White North is second only to Switzerland, which has been ranked #1 in the report for the past four years, and jumps ahead of Japan (which was #2 last year) in the rankings.
Notably, Canada took the top spot in its perceived quality of life and ranked second place in terms of the best countries to headquarter a corporation.
How Canada got its rank
Developed by American media company US News & World Report, the rankings are based on how global perceptions define countries in terms of a number of metrics.
Those metrics are grouped into nine broad categories — Adventure, Citizenship, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power, and Quality of Life — with scores in each category based on survey respondents in 36 countries around the world.
“Entrepreneurship” was the highest-weighted metric, while “Adventure” was the lowest.
The report does bear some bad news.
“Nearly half of survey respondents say conditions around the world have worsened in the past year,” it reads. “Likewise, an increased percentage of people say the gap between the rich and poor has grown and that nationalism is increasing.”
Climate change is also a top-of-mind issue for many people now, says the report.
But in good news for our country, Canada was ranked as the most transparent state in the world, above even Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.
So maybe don’t change into your red tank tops and set off fireworks yet — but you can take a moment to relish our *mathematically objective* superiority to the rest of the world!
25 Best Countries in the World, 2020
- Switzerland
- Canada
- Japan
- Germany
- Australia
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Sweden
- Netherlands
- Norway
- New Zealand
- France
- Denmark
- Finland
- China
- Singapore
- Italy
- Austria
- Spain
- South Korea
- Luxembourg
- United Arab Emirates
- Russia
- Portugal
- India
