Switzerland is world’s best country in 2024 survey, India drops three spots to 33rd rank

The survey ranks 89 countries on the basis of their global perception using 10 differentially weighted sub-rankings such as adventure, agility, heritage, entrepreneurship, quality of life, cultural purpose and more. These sub-rankings are made up of 73 different attributes that a country is tested on.

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While Switzerland ranked higher on metrics of quality of life and openness to business, it’s lowest ranking was in the field of heritage.

This is the seventh time the Central European nation of Switzerland has ranked first in the survey, with European countries making up the majority of the top 25. In the latest ranking, Switzerland is followed by Japan, the United States of America, Canada and Australia.

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Where does India stand?

India ranked at number 33 on the list this year, dropping three spots from its place on the list in 2023. Only Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea managed to crack the top 25 from Asia. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar were the only two Middle-Eastern countries that made the cut at 17 and 25 respectively.

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Unlike Switzerland, India’s highest ranking was in the field of ‘movers’ (number 7) and heritage (number 10). ‘Movers’, the sub-ranking with the heaviest weightage, measures the resilience and adaptiveness of a country. India’s worst performance was in the categories of social purpose and adventure.

The Best Countries Ranking 2024 by US News & World Report, a project which has been going on for nine years, seeks to look at the value of nations beyond just wealth. A total of 16,960 individuals from 36 countries were surveyed in order to create this ranking.

Using a model developed by Wharton Business School, they measure qualitative attributes related to the success of a nation, over a year. Switzerland, according to the survey, performs consistently in all sub-rankings, rather than the highest in all sub-rankings, which has made it more likely to be rated the best country due to perceived stability.