Switzerland beats the US, Canada, and Germany to be named the world's best country, after winning praise for its business-friendly culture, analysis shows
- Switzerland is the best country in the world, according to a US News & World Report analysis.
- The analysis was created in partnership with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Switzerland has been named the best country in the world, according to a US News & World Report analysis.
The nation was ranked highly for its quality of life and voted the most business-friendly country in the world.
The US made the list as the fourth-best country overall, up from sixth in 2021. The country ranked highly for cultural influence and entrepreneurship and was voted the most powerful country in the world. However, it didn't make the top 20 for quality of life.
To create the rankings, US News partnered with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Countries were scored on 73 pre-agreed attributes, such as quality of life or social purpose, by more than 17,000 people from around the world between April 30 and July 13.
Carlo Bastasin, a nonresident senior fellow in The Brookings Institution's Foreign Policy program, told US News: "From a financial or industrial point of view, some of the major companies intermediating raw materials – oil, for instance – are based in Switzerland."
He added the country may also benefit from its traditional perception of neutrality during international conflicts, despite Switzerland recently breaking its neutral stance to sanction Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
The top 10 countries are as follows:
- Switzerland
- Germany
- Canada
- United States
- Sweden
- Japan
- Australia
- United Kingdom
- France
- Denmark