Best/Worst
Good Country Index by Country 2025
- Good Country Index rankings are based on 35 large datasets produced by United Nations agencies and other international organisations. Most of these datasets take several years to compile, analyze and publish.
- Good Country Index v1.6 was released in late 2024 and used mostly 2022 data.
- Good Country Index v1.5 used mostly 2020 data.
The Good Country Index attempts to rank countries based on their contributions to the common good of all humanity in five different categories. This index makes comparing different countries simpler by placing all evaluated 169 nations on a list from first to 169th place.
What Is a Good Country According to the Good Country Index?
The Good Country Index defines a country based on the number of ways a country contributes to the rest of the planet and how much it uses. To ensure the scores don’t wrongfully penalize smaller countries, the nation’s size goes into account in the overall rankings.
What Indicators Does the Good Country Index Use?
Thirty-five indicators fall into seven categories to calculate the Good Country Index. Each category has five elements within it.
These categories include contributions in the following areas, science and technology, planet and climate, world order, prosperity and equality, culture, international peace and security, and health and wellbeing.
Indicators within each category account for the nation’s economy size when necessary. For example, within the contributions to culture category, the exports of cultural goods and services and international festivals are both proportionate to the country’s economy.
Some of the indicators impact the score negatively. For instance, higher birthrates and higher numbers of citizens living overseas detract from the overall Good Country Index score.
Calculating the Good Country Index
To create the list, the Good Country Index averages evenly the scores from each of the seven categories and ranks per the other 168 countries evaluated. In the ratings, if two nations have the same overall score, the country that has the lowest category rating falls below.
What Country Topped the Good Country Index
Countries that have higher ratings in their seven contribution categories have higher total rankings in the Good Country Index.
The most recent list as of 2023 places Sweden at the top of the Good Country Index. The second place scores in health and wellbeing and planet and climate and the first place finish in prosperity made Sweden the top nation.
Other countries in the top five of the Good Country Index were Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland.
What Country Placed Lowest on the Good Country Index
Syria finished at the bottom of the Good Country Index listing at 169th place. However, none of the category ratings were the lowest of the 169 nations.
The other nations at the bottom of the list include Mauritania, Central African Republic, Libya, and Sudan.
