The Best Country in the World is...

When checked the mail yesterday,the first thing I spotted was the colorful cover of Newsweek, and the headline reads "The Best country in the world is..."Naturally, I had to stop what I was doing to find out who it was.

So, who do you think it is? I'm sure most of you think it's the good Ol' U-S of A right? Well, guess what, the super power of the world, didn't even break the top ten.  Yes, you are reading right, not even the top ten.



Newsweek did months and months of research and ranked the countries according to five categories: education, health, quality of life, economic competitiveness, and political environment.  So by just that, who do you think it is? My first thought was a European country and I was right!

OK, so let me break it down for you before I give you the list,so that you understand how these countries arrived at the number they did.

1. Education -it's Academic Achievement (it's graduation rates--Sadly USA has declined in college graduates)

2.Health-Healthy life expectancy at birth

3. Quality of Life- Inequality (gender gap, coefficient) Extreme poverty,Standard of living,Physical environment,Economic security.

4.Economic Dynamism-Productive growth (Growth in GDP/capita),Diversification,Innovation,Business vitality,Stock market capitalization.

5. Political Environment-Freedom House rating,Global Peace Index’s Political Participation rating,Political Risk Service's Political Stability rating.

In terms of education and health, the U.S. performed the worst. In education, Finland ranked first, while the U.S. was 26th. South Korea, not listed in the top ten, had the second highest level of education at Number 2.

Japan has the healthiest life expectancy at 76 years of age. The U.S. lags behind considerably with the estimated age being 70. Finland's average life expectancy is 72.

The African nations Cameroon, Nigeria and Burkina Faso rated the lowest, at 98, 99 and 100th place

TOP 25!!!

1. Finland

2. Switzerland

3. Sweden

4. Australia

5. Luxembourg

6. Norway

7. Canada

8. Netherlands

9. Japan

10. Denmark

11. United States

12. Germany

13. New Zealand

14. United Kingdom

15. South Korea

16. France

17. Ireland

18. Austria

19. Belgium

20. Singapore

21. Spain

22. Israel

23. Italy

24. Slovenia
25. Czech Republic

To See the full list, visit Newsweek