
The UK is officially the third greatest country in the world. Third! We're number three!
Germany took the top spot in the inaugural rankings by the US News & World Report in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and BAV Consulting. The survey asked more than 16,000 worldwide respondents' perceptions of countries.
The rankings, which assess countries across dozens of metrics including quality of life, entrepreneurship and cultural influence, as well as economic and developmental indicators, show Germany as the 'Best country in the world', followed by Canada, the UK, the US and Sweden.
The below graphic by Statista displays the top ten in the 2016 rankings:
Of the 60 countries surveyed, Algeria came bottom of the index, followed by Ukraine, Iran, Nigeria and Pakistan. You can browse interactive tables on the US News website, here.
The rankings prompted responses from diplomatic accounts around the world:
Honoured to be #1: #Germany comes in 1st in #BestCountries ranking presented at @wef! https://t.co/FzIAagZNQZ https://t.co/sYC9Hax3Xq— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanForeignOffice) 1453308580
So proud that Canada ranks #1 for quality of life and #2 for citizenship #Bestcountries #Davos2016— CanadianPM (@CanadianPM) 1453287449
Come & see #Israel for yourself https://t.co/1N2YKj4gaZ #BestCountries https://t.co/ucGzx0jqkg— LTC (R) Peter Lerner (@LTC (R) Peter Lerner) 1453358388
Sweden tops @usnews ranking for #BestCountries for Green Living & Raising Kids. Second in categories Open for Business & Quality of Life!— Björn Lyrvall (@Björn Lyrvall) 1453325804
The UK scored highly for 'entrepreneurship', 'power' and 'citizenship' sub-indices, scoring poorly for 'adventure' (best countries to visit for travel) and 'movers' (best countries for up and coming economies).