A recent survey asked 17.000 people to rank 78 different countries based on 10 different categories, including quality of life and cultural influence. According to this survey, Germany takes its spot as one of the three best countries in the entire world.

The best countries in the world

This year, more than 17.000 people from 36 different countries participated in the US News and World Report’s Overall Best Countries Ranking. Participants were asked to rank 78 different countries based on a variety of metrics, which included quality of life, cultural influence, and entrepreneurship. This year’s survey also introduced two new categories, created in response to the coronavirus pandemic, agility and social purpose.

For the first time in four years, Switzerland has been knocked off the top spot, allowing Canada to move up and be crowned as the best country in the world. Japan came in second place, and Germany rounds off the top three.

Germany performs well across the board

Overall, Germany ranks pretty well across the 10 different categories. It scored particularly well for entrepreneurship, coming in second place behind Japan. Generally, Germany is seen to have a well-developed legal framework, transparent business practices and a well-educated population, however, it does suffer when it comes to access to capital and innovation.

Running a business in Germany can be very productive, however, starting a business can be quite difficult. The open for business category, which measures how easy it is to start and operate a business, illustrates just how difficult this can be in Germany. Germany’s unfavourable tax environment and expensive manufacturing costs reflect how expensive it can be to start a business in the federal republic.

Germany also performed well in the new agility category. This metric was created in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and measures how well countries “adapt and respond to whatever obstacles they face.” This metric is the most important in this year’s ranking, accounting for 14,18 percent of each countries overall score. In terms of its agility, Germany is seen as responsive and progressive, probably due to its early successes in tackling the coronavirus, although the country suffered when it came to how adaptable and dynamic it was.

Germany is not sexy

Germany’s worst performance was in the adventure category, which measures how attractive the country is and whether it is good for tourism. The results here are not good. While clawing back some points in the scenic and good for tourism subcategories, Germany is not seen as fun or friendly by participants in the survey and only received one point in the sexy subcategory.

For more information regarding Germany’s performance, including a complete breakdown of the categories, their scores and methodology, you can visit the US News website.