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Topics · Country Index 2026
Every country, topic by topic
12 subjects, from governance to mobility, each placing every country the world’s published indexes can measure. A few key statistics decide each standing — 41 in all — and every other statistic under a topic is published beside them as context.
Placed first on each topic
- Governance & Institutions
Denmark - Economy & Innovation
Iceland - Work & LabourIceland
- Education & Knowledge
South Korea - Health & Wellbeing
San Marino - Development & Human Capital
United Arab Emirates - Environment & Sustainability
Uruguay - Gender & Equality
Sweden - Democracy & Civil Liberties
Norway - Peace & SecurityIceland
- Risk & Resilience
Liechtenstein - Mobility & Connectivity
Singapore
01The subjects
12 topics
Each with the three countries placed highest. The ticks on a plate are the topic’s key statistics, the only ones that decide its standing; “statistics” counts everything published under the topic, keys included.
01
5 key statistics
Governance & Institutions
How well is the state actually run?
- 1Denmark
- 2Norway
- 3
Finland
- Keys
- 5
- Statistics
- 26
- Placed
- 193
- 1
02
3 key statistics
Economy & Innovation
What does an economy do for the people inside it?
- 1Iceland
- 2
Switzerland - 3
Austria
- Keys
- 3
- Statistics
- 47
- Placed
- 150
- 1
03
4 key statistics
Work & Labour
Can people find work, and on what terms?
- 1Iceland
- 2
Japan - 3South Korea
- Keys
- 4
- Statistics
- 22
- Placed
- 182
- 1
04
4 key statistics
Education & Knowledge
How far does a country's schooling carry its children?
- 1South Korea
- 2
United States - =3
Croatia
- Keys
- 4
- Statistics
- 19
- Placed
- 182
- 1
05
4 key statistics
Health & Wellbeing
How long, and how well fed, do people live?
- 1San Marino
- 2
Monaco - 3
Andorra
- Keys
- 4
- Statistics
- 22
- Placed
- 201
- 1
06
3 key statistics
Development & Human Capital
Is a country turning its resources into better lives?
- 1United Arab Emirates
- 2
Belgium - 3
Germany
- Keys
- 3
- Statistics
- 52
- Placed
- 194
- 1
07
3 key statistics
Environment & Sustainability
How much pressure does a country put on nature, and how is it changing course?
- 1Uruguay
- 2
Angola - 3
Timor-Leste
- Keys
- 3
- Statistics
- 21
- Placed
- 161
- 1
08
3 key statistics
Gender & Equality
How wide is the gap between women's and men's lives?
- 1Sweden
- 2Belgium
- 3Iceland
- Keys
- 3
- Statistics
- 12
- Placed
- 178
- 1
09
3 key statistics
Democracy & Civil Liberties
Do people choose their rulers, and can they speak freely?
- 1Norway
- 2
Luxembourg - =3Denmark
- Keys
- 3
- Statistics
- 5
- Placed
- 198
- 1
10
3 key statistics
Peace & Security
Is a country at peace, and how heavily armed is it?
- 1Iceland
- 2
Costa Rica - 3
New Zealand
- Keys
- 3
- Statistics
- 6
- Placed
- 177
- 1
11
3 key statistics
Risk & Resilience
How exposed is a country to crisis, and how ready is it to cope?
- 1Liechtenstein
- 2
Nauru - 3Luxembourg
- Keys
- 3
- Statistics
- 7
- Placed
- 191
- 1
12
3 key statistics
Mobility & Connectivity
How connected is a country to the rest of the world?
- 1Singapore
- 2
Hong Kong - 3South Korea
- Keys
- 3
- Statistics
- 10
- Placed
- 147
- 1
02On a map
The world, topic by topic
Choose a topic. Darker is placed higher; hover a country for its position, or select it to open that country’s page on the topic. Below the map, the country placed highest on each continent.
Governance & InstitutionsEvery country on Governance
1st193rdNot placed · 31 countries with too few key statisticsNo data
Africa
Mauritius49 of 193Americas
Canada6 of 193Asia
Singapore4 of 193Europe
Denmark1 of 193Oceania
Australia9 of 193- Every region
03Why twelve, not one
Same country, different stories
The 6 countries whose strongest and weakest topics are furthest apart. Each dot is one topic, placed by position as a share of its own field — best at the left.
Sierra LeoneWestern Africa
- Strongest: Environment & Sustainability
- 4th of 161
- Weakest: Health & Wellbeing
- 195th of 201
Photo: Annabel Symington derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
UgandaEastern Africa
- Strongest: Environment & Sustainability
- 5th of 161
- Weakest: Education & Knowledge
- 176th of 182
Photo: Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia · CC BY-SA 2.0, greyscale
QatarWestern Asia
- Strongest: Development & Human Capital
- 12th of 194
- Weakest: Environment & Sustainability
- 159th of 161
Photo: Haakon S. Krohn derivative work: JamesA · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
DR CongoMiddle Africa
- Strongest: Environment & Sustainability
- 10th of 161
- Weakest: Health & Wellbeing
- joint 198th of 201
Photo: Christina Bergey derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
BarbadosCaribbean
- Strongest: Peace & Security
- 4th of 177
- Weakest: Environment & Sustainability
- 150th of 161
Photo: Berit Watkin , derivative work (crop) by Globe-trotter · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
AngolaMiddle Africa
- Strongest: Environment & Sustainability
- 2nd of 161
- Weakest: Health & Wellbeing
- 185th of 201
Photo: Paulo César Santos derivative work: Jjtkk · CC0, greyscale
04Records
One record per topic
The country at the extreme of one statistic under each subject, read from its newest edition. Where countries tie at the top, no record is named.
Perceived as least corrupt
89
on Transparency International’s 0–100 scale
Most complex economy
1.729
on the Economic Complexity Index
Highest output per hour worked
164.65
international $ per hour, 2021 prices
Highest PISA mathematics score
574.66
mean score of 15-year-olds
Longest life expectancy at birth
86.37
years
Highest human development
0.972
on UNDP’s 0–1 index
Largest share of land under forest
94.45
% of land area
Least discrimination in social institutions
6.7
on the OECD’s SIGI, where 0 is none
Strongest rule of law
2.021
on the World Bank’s −2.5 to 2.5 scale
Most politically stable
1.582
on the World Bank’s −2.5 to 2.5 scale
Lowest humanitarian crisis risk
0.7
on INFORM’s 0–10 scale
European Commission Joint Research Centre, with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee · data for 2025
Best connected by container shipping
1,319
on UNCTAD’s connectivity index
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05How they relate
Topics that travel together
If a country places high on one subject, does it on another? Each pair is compared over the countries placed on both, by rank correlation: 1 means the two lists run in the same order, 0 that they are unrelated. Across all 66 pairs of the 12 topics, these agree most and least.
Move together most
Health & WellbeingDevelopment & Human Capital
Countries place very similarly on both. (rank correlation 0.92, across 192 countries placed on both)
Economy & InnovationDevelopment & Human Capital
Countries place very similarly on both. (rank correlation 0.90, across 149 countries placed on both)
Economy & InnovationHealth & Wellbeing
Countries place very similarly on both. (rank correlation 0.90, across 149 countries placed on both)
Move together least
Health & WellbeingEnvironment & Sustainability
Almost no link between the two. (rank correlation -0.18, across 161 countries placed on both)
Education & KnowledgeEnvironment & Sustainability
Almost no link between the two. (rank correlation -0.12, across 152 countries placed on both)
Development & Human CapitalEnvironment & Sustainability
Almost no link between the two. (rank correlation -0.12, across 160 countries placed on both)
06Analysis
Charts and analysis, by topic
Economy & Innovation
China Leads Global High-Technology Exports
The world’s ten largest high-technology exporters as a treemap, with the rest of the world beside them. Each country’s figure is its own most recent year, between 2022 and 2024.
Health & Wellbeing
Global Hunger Index 2025: Countries with the Most Alarming Hunger Crisis
Thirteen countries scored across four editions — 2000, 2008, 2016 and 2025 — and five the report could not score at all. DR Congo and South Sudan share 121st place on 37.5.
Governance & Institutions
WJP Rule of Law Index 2024: Which Countries Lead in Justice and Accountability?
The thirteen strongest of the 142 countries the World Justice Project measures, and the eight factors the overall score averages. Four countries are published at 0.83 and still carry separate ranks.
Mobility & Connectivity
The World’s Safest Airlines for 2025
The eleven safest airlines of 2025, each beside the country it is based in, and the nine things the grading looks at. Three airlines share third place, and the publisher gives an order but no score.
Health & Wellbeing
World Happiness Report 2025: Finland Leads Again as the US and UK Face Major Declines
The ten highest life evaluations of 2025, drawn on a world map, and the six things the report uses to explain them. Costa Rica and Mexico are the only two outside Europe and the Middle East.
Development & Human Capital
India vs Pakistan 2025: Comparison of Hunger Index, Happiness, HDI, Rule of Law, Literacy & GDP
India and Pakistan on six published measures: hunger, happiness, human development, rule of law, literacy and GDP per capita. India is the better placed on five of them; Pakistan on one.
07Method
How a topic standing is made
Four steps, the same for every topic. Each topic page shows its own working in full.
1
A few keys
Each topic has a handful of key statistics, each measuring something the others do not. Every other statistic under the topic is published as context and has no vote.
2
A place in each field
Every country’s published value becomes its place within that key’s own list, counted as a share of the list — so 22nd of 44 and 108th of 215 read as the same showing.
3
One vote each
The shares are averaged with no key weighted above another. A country needs readings on at least half of a topic’s keys to be placed.
4
A position, not a score
Countries are put in order by that average, and only the order is published: a position and the size of its field. The average itself is never printed.
What is a topic standing?
A country’s place on one subject — governance, health, work and so on — in the Country Index 2026. It is built from a few key statistics per topic, each turned into a place within its own field before they are averaged, and it is published as a position with the size of its field, never as a score.
How many topics are there, and how many place countries?
12 topics, drawn from 147 statistics. 12 of them place countries this edition, using 41 key statistics between them.
Why do most statistics on a topic have no vote?
If every statistic voted, importing five more of one kind would quietly change what a topic measures. A handful of keys, each admitted by tests re-run every edition, keep the standing about the subject rather than about whatever was imported most.
How does a topic standing relate to the Country Index?
The Country Index averages a country’s topic standings, one vote per topic. A country can place very differently on one topic than overall, and the topic pages list the countries where the gap is widest.