The best countries ranking for 2022 was published on 27 September by the US News in collaboration with World Report, BAV Group, and Wharton School. The top ten countries are Switzerland, Germany, Canada, United States, Sweden, Japan, Australia, United Kingdom, France, and Denmark. The ten lowest ranked countries from the bottom up are Belarus, Uzbekistan. Iran. Kazakhstan. Serbia, Algeria, Lebanon, Oman, Zambia, and Myanmar. This is the seventh annual ranking of the countries by the group.

Methodology: This is an assessment of the countries beyond hard metrics. That means quantitative figures like GDP, inflation, literacy & mortality rates, and so on are not taken into account. People’s views or perceptions are considered.  This is in fact the perception mapping of 85 countries, considered for the study. The model was developed by BAV group in partnership with Wharton School. 73 attributes were identified and were first sub-grouped into 10 and their ratings were rolled into the final ranking. The 2022 survey was conducted among 17,000 people across the world from April to July. 

India in the global ranking: India is neither at the top nor at the bottom. We were 25^th among 78 countries in 2021; this year, India slipped by six positions to 31^st among 85 countries. India has slid down from the 32 percentile to the 36 percentile, a 4 percentile drop in the ranking.

The ten groups with the weights, along with India’s ranks for each of them are depicted above. Among the ten group attributes considered, India’s ranks vary from 5^th for movers to 72^nd for social purpose. This is quite a contrast. India ranks in the top ten for two attributes – Movers [5] and Heritage [8]. Movers refers to attributes such as different, distinctive, dynamic, and unique. India does have a high perception among the people on these metrics. However, India ranked second in Movers in 2021. On the basis of heritage, India is 8^th but was 6^th in 2021. Heritage groups together the attributes – culturally accessible, rich history, great food, many cultural attractions, and many geographical attractions. India scores high on these no doubt, but this group among the ten carries the lowest weightage – 3% only. Another group we score high is power [13]. Power includes attributes such as a leader, economically influential, strong exports, politically influential, strong international alliances, and strong military. We were 13^th in 2021 as well. But we had a drop by 1.4 percentile during this period.

The disturbing ranking is for social purpose at 72^nd out of 85 countries, which was 60^th out of 75 countries in 2021. Social purpose groups together attributes specified as cares for human rights, cares about the environment, gender equality, religious freedom, respects property rights, trustworthy, well distributed political power, racial equality, cares about animal rights, committed to climate goals, and committed to social justice. A perusal of each of these attributes makes us Indians realise where we are and how far we have to travel in these directions.

The study has ranked the countries on other parameters as shown below. 

 The second rank for starting a business, just below China, makes us proud. The growing international influence of India [13] in the geopolitical sphere is also laudable.

India falling in the bottom five in ‘raising children’ is appalling, as India was considered to be holding aloft the family system and its values. This is a reflection of the dismal perception of the global community on human rights, family-friendly, gender equality, happy, income equality, public education, and public health in India.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “The day a woman can walk freely on the roads at night, that day we can say that India has achieved independence.” The ranking for ‘women’ at the bottom ten in the world, tells us that in the eyes of the world, even after 75 years, we are yet to attain the independence envisaged by the father of the nation.

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To read the report in USNews on the Best Countries Ranking 2022 click here