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US News ranks ‘Best Countries,’ and a neighbor is No. 1
For the sixth edition of its Best Countries Rankings, U.S. News & World Report is singling out a new top-performer.
Canada takes the No. 1 ranking this year from Switzerland, which fell to No. 4, while the United States climbed one position to No. 6 overall.
The rankings — which are a collaboration among U.S. News, BAV Group and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School — are intended to improve understanding of how nations are perceived globally. They comprise 10 subrankings on such things as “open for business,” “quality of life” and “cultural influence,” as well as over a dozen “best for” rankings.
Over 17,000 people from 36 nations were surveyed online to rank 78 countries that met certain bench marks for gross domestic product, foreign direct investment and international tourism, among other criteria.
(The survey was taken after the 2020 presidential election.)
The top 10 overall standouts, per U.S. News …
Canada
Japan
Germany
Switzerland
Australia
United States
New Zealand
United Kingdom
Sweden
Netherlands
Attributes were grouped into 10 subrankings that rolled into the Best Countries ranking: Adventure, Agility, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power, Social Purpose and Quality of Life. And to reflect a world transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ensuing sharp economic downturn and calls worldwide for social justice and tackling inequality, two new subrankings were introduced: Agility and Social Purpose. Two new attributes – survey respondents' views on how adaptable and responsive countries are – were added to existing attributes to help create the Agility subranking. The Social Purpose subranking replaces the previous Citizenship subranking and incorporates four new metrics – racial equity, cares about animal rights, committed to climate goals and committed to social justice – that join the earlier metrics.
Attributes were grouped into 10 subrankings that rolled into the Best Countries ranking: Adventure, Agility, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power, Social Purpose and Quality of Life. And to reflect a world transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ensuing sharp economic downturn and calls worldwide for social justice and tackling inequality, two new subrankings were introduced: Agility and Social Purpose. Two new attributes – survey respondents' views on how adaptable and responsive countries are – were added to existing attributes to help create the Agility subranking. The Social Purpose subranking replaces the previous Citizenship subranking and incorporates four new metrics – racial equity, cares about animal rights, committed to climate goals and committed to social justice – that join the earlier metrics.
US News ranks ‘Best Countries,’ and a neighbor is No. 1
For the sixth edition of its Best Countries Rankings, U.S. News & World Report is singling out a new top-performer.
Canada takes the No. 1 ranking this year from Switzerland, which fell to No. 4, while the United States climbed one position to No. 6 overall.
The rankings — which are a collaboration among U.S. News, BAV Group and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School — are intended to improve understanding of how nations are perceived globally. They comprise 10 subrankings on such things as “open for business,” “quality of life” and “cultural influence,” as well as over a dozen “best for” rankings.
Over 17,000 people from 36 nations were surveyed online to rank 78 countries that met certain bench marks for gross domestic product, foreign direct investment and international tourism, among other criteria.
(The survey was taken after the 2020 presidential election.)
The top 10 overall standouts, per U.S. News …
Canada
Japan
Germany
Switzerland
Australia
United States
New Zealand
United Kingdom
Sweden
Netherlands
Wrong again: So the Canada Health Act, one of its principles is portability. So I as the user, the consumer, will receive health care anywhere in Canada. But that government will bill Ontario for those costs. But for me it’s seamless.
You should also know that those of us who travel can get reimbursed the amount that would be paid by our various provincial governments should we require treatment out of country and not be able to travel home without it. Of course it won't even begin to cover the costs associated with only the U.S. and that is why most optionally purchased travel insurance treats the U.S. uniquely with small print asterisk noted wording to wit: "Should you fall ill while visiting the U.S.of A. and can be stabilized for evacuation, regardless of being ambulatory, a qualified medical evacuation flight with qualified attendants will be provided to return you to a Canadian medical facility and care."
My retirement benefits package includes 'out-of-province-healthcare' (worldwide coverage) and is provided by BlueCross (an American entity) and during our pre-retirement seminars, the benefits counsellors informed us that in the event of a serious illness or condition arising while there, Blue Cross would move heaven and earth to get our butts out of the U.S. ASAP if it were at all possible, regardless of the cost of any med-flight. Discussion revolved around the (Blue Cross rep. wording here) "hold you hostage American hospital methods."
The only other situation receiving that admonishment were those that might arise while visiting a country where there was no required medical treatment available.
Should have been more specific, a Quebec resident can go to another province but they will be charged for the visit and must then seek reimbursement. The Quebec government DOES NOT reimburse 100% and the final out of pocket cost is at the whims of a bureaucrat. I have heard horror stories
That was a hilarious movie. Stereotypes of both Canadians and Americans who live in the far north are in abundance.....they make that movie what it is. I wonder if Canadians found that movie funny.
Actually their beer is pretty good. I like Labatts and Molson.
US News ranks ‘Best Countries,’ and a neighbor is No. 1
They are No.1 because Mexico isn’t their neighbor
This sentiment comes up all the time so I am going to stand up for Mexico on this. First we must recognize that most of the illegal immigrants are not Mexicans. They are from far more impoverished nations in Central America. Central America is the most troubled part of Latin America, drug lords and dangerous drug gangs have pretty much taken over.
Who are the customers of the drug lords in Central America? American citizens use most of the drugs. The drug cartels must transport the drugs through Mexico and over the border. This is why Northern Mexico is so violent and why the violence is literally associated with our border. The government of Mexico is overwhelmed by the drug trafficking and cannot stop it. However it is largely our fault it is there. Our government is overwhelmed by drugs on our streets and addicts living amongst us. If we stopped using drugs then many of Mexico’s problems would go away. We are not such great neighbors to them either. Could Mexico do more to stop drug violence and illegal immigration from Central America? Yes they could. We should have sound immigration policy and deep cooperative relationships with Mexican authorities to stop the criminal activities on both sides of the border. Mexico could really do a better job of securing its southern border.....the place where a lot of bad stuff enters all of North America. Still we must recognize our huge part in creating all this trouble in the first place by having such a huge market for drugs in America. We need to stop the drug use. We need to get tough on drugs, really tough.
Also let’s talk about the Mexicans living in the US. Almost all of them are legal. (Most of the illegals are not Mexicans but Central Americans) One thing about Mexican immigrants is the absolute fact of how hard they work when they arrive here. They are a very hard working people. They do contribute to this country and they tend to do jobs that many Anglo Americans are unwilling to do. Also parts of Mexican culture are being absorbed into American culture all the time, just as other immigrant groups have done for the country in the past. Just last night I enjoyed a good meal with my wife at a local Mexican restaurant. Many of us celebrate cinco de Mayo too. Spanish words are creeping into our lexicon. The US has always been an Anglo nation with a Hispanic influence (at least since we seized the southwest from Mexico in the Mexican war in 1848). Today almost 20 percent of the US is Hispanic and Spanish speaking. We cannot erase history or ignore it. The Mexican border, Spanish speakers and Hispanic influence is a huge part of American culture. It really is similar to the situation the Canadians have with French speakers from Quebec. What I am saying is that this Mexican influence in our country is not a bad thing, we need to embrace it as being part of our culture. We also must recognize that it got here through the annexation of the southwest and Texas as well as through mostly legal immigration. Illegal immigration is just a small part of how America ended up being 20 percent Hispanic.
Also worth noting that tens of thousands of Americans live in Mexico as ex pats. Many also retire there. Mexico is mostly a good neighbor in spite of their problems. We really need to stop disrespecting them.
It sounds like very few in this thread really looked at how the ratings were derived.
Here is the pdf report that summarizing how well every country in the report scored in each main category: https://www.usnews.com/media/best-co...kings-2021.pdf . The report also has a section describing the methodology used and the weight given to each main category in coming up with an overall score. For example, scores in the Entrepreneur category are given a overall weight of 14% while scores in the Heritage category are given a weight of 2%.
As far as subcategories are concerned, each country seems to have weaknesses and strengths. I think more can be learned from weaknesses than strengths i.e. where a country is falling behind and where improvements to strengthen a country can be made - that’s what I usually focus on when I read the report for Canada each year.
Anyway, to figure out why Canada ended up with a higher placement than the US, you have to look at the subcategories. Examples:
POLITICALLY STABLE (in Quality of Life category)
Canada - 100.0
U.S. - 27.8
SAFE (in Quality of Life category)
Canada - 96.7
U.S. - 10.8
WELL DEVELOPED PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM (in Quality of Life category)
Canada - 97.8
U.S. - 70.2
TRANSPARENT BUSINESS PRACTICES (in Open for Business category)
Canada - 90.4
U.S. - 21.3
RESPECTS PROPERTY RIGHTS (in Social Purpose category)
Canada - 100.0
U.S. - 70.5
HAPPY (in Cultural Influence category)
Canada - 81.0
U.S.- 15.0
etc.
Of course, there are several subcategories where the US does much better than Canada. I probably wouldn’t disagree with the low Canadian scores for any of them.
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