Canada has come out on top in a new report ranking the best countries in the world.

The ranking scored the perceptions of 87 countries based on a survey of over 17,000 people worldwide and was published by US News & World Report on September 6.

According to US News, respondents had to connect the countries to several attributes within 10 subrankings, including power, cultural influence, heritage, and social purpose.

Switzerland took the top spot for the second year in a row.

"The small Central European country finished first in the open for business subranking. But it’s also in the top 10 in four other subrankings and ranks first in the attribute assessing perceptions of a country’s safety," stated US News.

This year, Canada overtook Germany as the second-best country in the world, moving up one spot from third place in 2022.

According to the detailed rankings, Canada scored top points for several subcategories, including quality of life, social purpose, and racial equity.

See the full breakdown of Canada's ranking.

Sweden took third place, with top scores in the social purpose and quality of life subrankings.

Australia and the US rounded the top spots, placing fourth and fifth, respectively.

The 25 best countries in the world

1. Switzerland
2. Canada
3. Sweden
4. Australia
5. United States
6. Japan
7. Germany
8. New Zealand
9. United Kingdom
10. Netherlands
11. Norway
12. France
13. Denmark
14. Finland
15. Italy
16. Singapore
17. Spain
18. Belgium
19. United Arab Emirates
20. China
21. South Korea
22. Austria
23. Ireland
24. Luxembourg
25. Portugal

US News and World Report collaborated with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and global marketing and communications services company WPP to compile the data used in this report.

A survey used a set of 73 country attributes, which are terms that describe each country and are “relevant to the success” of modern nations.

Different attributes and countries were then presented in a survey of over 17,000 people worldwide. Participants had to decide if they associated certain characteristics with a particular nation. The survey took place between March 17 and June 12, 2023.

Every country received a score on each of the 73 attributes from the survey responses. If a country was perceived to show a specific characteristic compared to the average, that country would receive a higher score.

The attributes were grouped into 10 themed subrankings to rank the countries overall. The subrankings included adventure, agility, cultural influence, entrepreneurship, heritage, movers, open for business, power, quality of life and social purpose.

Each of these subrankings was also weighed differently. Read more information about the ranking methodology.