The best countries in the world have been revealed. Here’s how Australia compares

The best countries in the world have been revealed and Australia has landed a spot in the top five.

The rankings, released annually by US News and World Report, compared how 89 nations were perceived worldwide on metrics such as quality of life, entrepreneurship, social purpose and business.

Switzerland’s stability and quality of life won it the top gong for the third consecutive year and seventh time overall.

Meanwhile, Japan climbed four spots to reach number two overall, followed by the United States, Canada and Australia.

Overall, Australia scored 92.9 and ranked fifth — down one from 2023.

The analysis, published in collaboration with WPP and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, was based on a global survey in which nearly 17,000 people associated different countries with 73 “country attributes” — terms used to describe a country that were also relevant to the success of a modern nation.

Specific attributes ranged from friendly, good for tourism and modern to not corrupt, dynamic and politically stable.

“The more a country was perceived to exemplify a certain characteristic in relation to the average, the higher that country’s attribute score, and vice versa,” US News and World Report said.

“These scores were transformed into a scale that could be compared across the board.”

The country attributes were grouped into 10 categories, with Australia earning its highest score in agility, meaning the nation was perceived as a somewhere most adaptable to change.

This was followed by quality of life for its good job market, stable economy and politics, and well-developed public education and health systems; and social purpose, which encompassed caring about animal and human rights, climate, the environment and being trustworthy.

Across the 10 categories, Australia ranked third for agility, eighth for quality of life and adventure, ninth for social purpose, 12th for cultural influence, 13th for entrepreneurship, 17th for open for business, 18th for power, 20th for heritage and 31st in movers.

10 best countries overall

1. Switzerland
2. Japan
3. United States
4. Canada
5. Australia
6. Sweden
7. Germany
8. United Kingdom
9. New Zealand
10. Denmark