How To Choose the Best Country

We were just told by U.S. News & World Report that Switzerland is the best country.

Being best, though, depends on what you measure.

The Best Country

For its metrics, US News (with a Wharton professor and a global marketing company) started with the 87 nations that have the highest GDP. From there, evaluating those 87 nations, 17,000 people shared their perceptions about 73 characteristics. Ranging from entrepreneurship and business friendliness to adventure and social purpose, those perceptions created a rank for the best country and also for more specific attributes like comfortable retirement and solo travel. Meanwhile, they appear to have tried to vary their respondents’ lens by selecting one-third business leaders, one-third college educated middle class or above, and one-third general population.

As a result, we wind up with Switzerland at the top and the U.S.#5. Meanwhile, Canada is #2 and Sweden, #3. Still, as Professor David Reibstein points out, closely ranked countries can be very different. The U.S. rank was buoyed by entrepreneurship, agility, and power but got much lower scores for quality of life. “Shockingly,” because of pricey labor, it was #59 in the “open for business” component. By contrast, what respondents perceive about Canada’s quality of life and social purpose boosted their score.

Lower down on the list, China descended from #17 (in 2022) to #20 while India is heading in the opposite direction. However, the professor emphasized that perceptions of China especially varied. While some admire it and others do not, mostly all expressed, “fear.” At the same time, they characterize India as a “rising star.”

Our Bottom Line: Country Metrics

Asked “How are we doing?” countries most typically cite the GDP. As a money measure of annual production, it’s a wealth yardstick that ranks the U.S. at the top and China next. Not quite as precise as it sounds, GDP numbers vary. They could be nominal or real, apply to the whole country or per person.

We might also see numbers that were adjusted for their currency’s purchasing power (PPP). Then, according to the IMF, China is at the top:

And still, there are other possibilities. Implying that they are selecting the best country, The Economist asked, “How well does your country provide for its citizens?” In their index, they asked, “How well prosperity translates into well-being” for 170 nations. Here, once we ignore GDP, the results again shift. Yes, Switzerland remains high with the Nordic countries. But, if you wonder (as did I), the U.S. was #31 and China, 107:

I should summarize by saying, that, because I am skeptical about ranking, my favorite is the Better Life Index. Designed by the OECD, it lets you design your own ranking system. As a result, you can prioritize any of 11 categories that include environment, safety, income, and life satisfaction. Then, the criteria you select can determine where you might like to live.

Whatever you choose, please remember that “We treasure what we measure.”

My sources and more: Thanks to the Knowledge at Wharton podcast for alerting me to the US News best country. From there, we checked U.S. News  and The Economist.

Please note that several of today’s sentences were in a past econlife post.