NationStates

SOURCES: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada- ... world-2021
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries
According to the authors, the rankings found in the 2021 Best Countries report were determined by a survey of more than 17,000 business- and college-educated individuals who are middle class or higher, and citizens that are “nationally representative” of their country.

The analysis uses both data and storytelling to explore how countries compare on a several different global issues, such as corruption and racial equality.

In addition to the top overall spot, Canada was also ranked as the best country in the world for quality of life and social purpose, and the third most business-friendly and agile.

“[Canada is] perceived as having a good job market, caring about human rights, and is committed to social justice,” the report notes

According to a report by US news, Canada is now ranked as the best country in the world, rising from second place in last year's report, with Japan taking the spot instead, and germany in third.

So what do you think, do you think that Canada deserves the award? Or is it just a wasteland of maple trees?

PS: The United States came in 6th

New Antarcticania wrote:According to the authors, the rankings found in the 2021 Best Countries report were determined by a survey of more than 17,000 business- and college-educated individuals who are middle class or higher, and citizens that are “nationally representative” of their country.

So disproportionately white, privileged liberals think that Canada is the best country in the world. That pretty much tracks.

A Spanish guy on youtube once commented that Canada got its name from a comment some Spanish explorers made (some say they were Portuguese) when they got to Canada. They commented "Aca Nada" which translates to "here nothing" so they left. So Aca Nada became Canada.

Time for this swinging Canadian national anthem - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_YS8t1xUVc

It's the #0 best country.

Says so right in the song.

The selection of the interviewees makes this survey tilted toward North-American nations.

Not buying it.

A set of 76 country attributes – terms that can be used to describe a country and that are also relevant to the success of a modern nation – were identified. Attributes by nation were presented in a survey of more than 17,000 people from across the globe. Participants assessed how closely they associated an attribute with a nation.

Each country was scored on each of the 76 country attributes based on a collection of individual survey responses. 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. These scores were normalized to account for outliers and transformed into a scale that could be compared across the board.

Attributes were grouped into 10 subrankings that rolled into the Best Countries ranking: Adventure, Agility, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power, Social Purpose and Quality of Life.

this is your brain on too much business school, kids - you start to think this sort of stuff has any meaning

Ivy League MBAs: Not Even Once

The global happiness index once named Vanuatu the happiest nation on earth.

One of the key explanations of this high ranking: little income disparity.
"Open for business" may well be another phrase for "let's make a substantial number of people permanently unhappy".

Njordan og Vanrik wrote:The global happiness index once named Vanuatu the happiest nation on earth.

One of the key explanations of this high ranking: little income disparity.
"Open for business" may well be another phrase for "let's make a substantial number of people permanently unhappy".

It's like those 'global freedom' indexes that rank countries with the lowest 'regulatory burden' as being 'more free'

you can just smell the *sniff* ideology

This is cringe. We all know Best Korea is the #1 best country

Nilokeras wrote:

Njordan og Vanrik wrote:The global happiness index once named Vanuatu the happiest nation on earth.

One of the key explanations of this high ranking: little income disparity.
"Open for business" may well be another phrase for "let's make a substantial number of people permanently unhappy".

It's like those 'global freedom' indexes that rank countries with the lowest 'regulatory burden' as being 'more free'

you can just smell the *sniff* ideology

You may be familiar with this cursorily related joke:

A mathematician, a statistician, and an economist are asked to answer the question "what is 2 + 2".

The mathematician says: "2 + 2 = 4"

The statistician counters: "That is too easy. Two and two equals four, plus or minus ten percent."

Then the economist: "Well, it all depends. What outcome are you looking for?"

Drongonia wrote:This is cringe. We all know Best Korea is the #1 best country

Based

On a serious note, how?

Canada is great and all, but the cost of living (housing particularly) is absolutely nuts. Not to mention the United States? Civil unrest, high crime, shoddy healthcare - and it's ranked as better than New Zealand and the Netherlands - ok buddy.

Drongonia wrote:On a serious note, how?

Canada is great and all, but the cost of living (housing particularly) is absolutely nuts. Not to mention the United States? Civil unrest, high crime, shoddy healthcare - and it's ranked as better than New Zealand and the Netherlands - ok buddy.

This index puts an emphasis on size (influence) and economic strength.

Drew Durrnil wrote:

Drongonia wrote:On a serious note, how?

Canada is great and all, but the cost of living (housing particularly) is absolutely nuts. Not to mention the United States? Civil unrest, high crime, shoddy healthcare - and it's ranked as better than New Zealand and the Netherlands - ok buddy.

This index puts an emphasis on size (influence) and economic strength.

Unfortunate, considering neither of those things matter to your average everyday 9 - 5 person trying to raise a family or something.

It is the #1 best country in the world for well-educated, rich, mostly white straight entrepreneurs who have slightly too much integrity to rig the game any further and just shout "USA! USA! USA!"

Or in less cynical language: if you are like Justin Trudeau, you like Justin Trudeau; if you can be like Justin Trudeau, you'd like to be where Justin Trudeau is.

And Justin Trudeau would like to stay where he is (in power) which is why this survey comes out just before he announces an early election...

Drongonia wrote:This is cringe. We all know Best Korea is the #1 best country

You seem to be implying there are multiple Koreas.

Odreria wrote:

Drongonia wrote:This is cringe. We all know Best Korea is the #1 best country

You seem to be implying there are multiple Koreas.

If there is one Korea, they are by default the best Korea.

Oh, Kim on, guys.

The best country in the world is a matter of opinion.

I don't know what they're talking about. I personally know this married Canadian woman who's moving from Canada to the US because they can't stand the place. And I know of another who complains about housing being too expensive where they live. This other one I'm not sure about, no complaints from them ever, even though they're in British Columbia. Might be well off.

The fact that Japan is ranked as the second best country is enough for me to know this is bullshit even without looking at the horrible methodology used. It's almost like using agglomerated statistical models which show your internal biases to measure subjective abstractions isn't a worthwhile exercise in intellectualism, which would admittedly explain why it was done by a marketing firm and a business school.

The methodology is obviously skewed, but that is inevitable in any survey such as this, where they seek to answer a subjective question. I think Canada being one of the better nations for overall quality of life is valid, as are its rankings in "freedom," in "mobility," what have you, but at the end of the day, the best country is up to the eyes of the beholder. Of the countries I've visited, I'd somehow find myself living in Mexico over France, for instance, even if any ranking such as this would contradict that.

I feel the methodology is quite skewed: while I'm glad we rank higher than the United States, as a Canadian, I would not say that Canada is at all #1: I'd honestly argue Norway, Sweden, Finland, or Iceland should be in that spot for certain, and I'd argue that New Zealand should have ranked higher than us, even if their average house prices make Vancouver's look downright cheap.

Njordan og Vanrik wrote:

Nilokeras wrote:
It's like those 'global freedom' indexes that rank countries with the lowest 'regulatory burden' as being 'more free'

you can just smell the *sniff* ideology

You may be familiar with this cursorily related joke:

A mathematician, a statistician, and an economist are asked to answer the question "what is 2 + 2".

The mathematician says: "2 + 2 = 4"

The statistician counters: "That is too easy. Two and two equals four, plus or minus ten percent."

Then the economist: "Well, it all depends. What outcome are you looking for?"

Boooo on replacing the accountant in that joke with an economist.

Galloism wrote:

Njordan og Vanrik wrote:
You may be familiar with this cursorily related joke:

A mathematician, a statistician, and an economist are asked to answer the question "what is 2 + 2".

The mathematician says: "2 + 2 = 4"

The statistician counters: "That is too easy. Two and two equals four, plus or minus ten percent."

Then the economist: "Well, it all depends. What outcome are you looking for?"

Boooo on replacing the accountant in that joke with an economist.

Besides which, the economist would be more like, "Well, it's been a bull year for 2s..."