It’s no secret Australia has a lot going for it, from spectacular beaches to iconic structures, national parks and so much more. It’s hardly surprising then that the Land Down Under has clinched the 4th spot in a ranking of best countries in the world. No small feat considering 87 countries around the world were in the running. A number of diverse factors were analysed in a survey of more than 17,000 global citizens by U.S. News. Based on global opinion, Australia ranked number 4 on the list behind only Switzerland, Canada and Sweden with the USA somewhat surprisingly rounding out the top 5. Australia also jumped 3 spots in the overall rankings from last year which is pretty impressive.
Best countries in the world
The rankings were developed by U.S. News & World Report along with marketing company WPP and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, evaluating countries based on 73 attributes which were broken down into 10 sub-categories namely: adventure, agility, cultural influence, entrepreneurship, heritage, movers, open for business, power, quality of life and social purpose.
According to the survey, Australia got an overall score of 97.6 while ranking in the top 10 for the following attributes:
- 1st as the world’s friendliest country.
- 3rd for agility and
- 8th for adventure and quality of life.
There were a number of additional rankings where Australia scored high including number 3 for comfortable retirement, number 6 for solo travel and number 8 for education. Not too bad at all!
Check out the full list of the top ten best countries in the world below:
- Switzerland
- Canada
- Sweden
- Australia
- United States
- Japan
- Germany
- New Zealand
- United Kingdom
- Netherlands
The survey also mentions that Australians are particularly concerned about environmental issues. It further notes that major cities like Sydney and Melbourne regularly score high in global surveys particularly pertaining to livability.
See the full ranking and get more information about the survey here.