Canada named 2nd best country in the world

The inaugural “Best Countries” ranking from U.S. News & World Report, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and global brand consultants BAV Consulting ranks 60 nations looking at 75 factors such as sustainability, adventure, cultural influence, entrepreneurship and economic influence.

Rounding out the top five is the U.K. in third place, the U.S. in fourth and Sweden in fifth place. The report surveyed more than 16,200 business leaders, high fliers and other members of the public ahead of the economic summit in Davos.

“Globalization has made the world a competitive place for business, influence and the quality of life,” Mortimer B. Zuckerman, chairman and editor-in-chief of U.S. News, said in a statement. “Just as we have done with universities, hospitals and other institutions, our Best Countries portal will be a global homepage for stories and data to help citizens, business leaders and governments evaluate performance in a rapidly changing world.”

Canada ranked particularly well in the citizenship, entrepreneurship, and open for business categories. Trudeau, who spoke Wednesday morning at Davos, will pitch Canada as a ‘great place to invest’ at World Economic Forum and his argument could be bolstered as Canada was ranked first overall in the “quality of life” category that looked at things like education, public health care, safety and economic stability.

However, the report noted that while “Canada is a high-tech industrial society with a high standard of living. Canada faces domestic challenges related to the concerns of indigenous people and those in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec.”