Canada becomes best country in world, ranks first in 'quality of life & social purpose'

For the first time, Canada has secured the number one position in the 2021 Best Countries Report, a ranking, and analysis project by US News & World Report; BAV Group, a unit of global marketing communications company VMLY&R; and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The ranking was based on cultural, financial, political, and technological influences, as well as two new parameters, social function, and agility.  Japan and Germany secured the number two and three positions, whereas Switzerland, which is often on number one country, slipped to fourth over the course of the coronavirus pandemic. Australia meanwhile was placed at number five, and the US gained a position becoming the sixth top country in the world on the report. 

“Nations are impacted on many critical fronts by how they are perceived globally from foreign relations to international business to tourism. These perceptions are ever-evolving in a rapidly changing world,” stated Kim Castro, editor, and chief content material officer said about the ranking in the report. “The 2021 Best Countries analysis combines data and storytelling to explore how countries compare on a host of global issues,” he said. 

[Image Credit: 2021 Best Countries Report]

Canada was named the best country in the world for the high quality of life and social function. It was also rated top in terms of the job market, human rights, and dedication towards social justice. The rate of corruption in the country was recorded as very low and the country was ranked high related to respecting the property rights of the citizens. The report emphasized the parameter of social justice where most countries struggled. 80 percent of the total population of the world aligned themselves with social justice, which includes addressing racial injustice, police brutality, and gender inequities, the report stated. 

[Image Credit: 2021 Best Countries Report]

“This year the model behind the Best Countries report has been updated and evolved in response to 2020, a year like no other,” John Keaveney, WPP advisor and head of Analytics & Insight, BAV Group said in the report.

“From the death of George Floyd and the subsequent rise of the social justice movement to the need for quick and decisive action by our governments and scientists to tackle the threat from Covid-19, all such seismic events now play a role in the way citizens rate a nation and its society as a whole," Keaveney added.

He continued, "By combining more traditional measures of a nation’s power and influence with our new dimensions of Social Purpose and Agility, we are now able to more accurately measure the strength and perceptual equity of any country in 2021.”

US at 18th position on social justice

Canada and the Nordic nations were ranked high in terms of social equality and justice as compared to the US that was on the eighteenth position on the report. “Canada is a high-tech industrial society with a high standard of living," the report stated. Canada was also ranked top in women’s safety and equal opportunity for women. 68 percent of the nation agreed that the country was equally led by women and the females enjoyed equal rights. The ranking of the world’s countries was also based on the third annual Origin Index, where responders voted which country they would buy most from, basis its model energy. It gauged other parameters such as COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy, views on Jan.6 US capitol siege, and 25 other subcategories.