Every year, the Legatum Institute, a London-based think tank, releases its annual global Prosperity Index, a huge survey that ranks the most prosperous countries in the world.
The amount of money a country has is one factor of prosperity, but the Legatum Institute considers more than that in its ranking.
The organisation compares 89 variables to come up with its list. These variables include traditional indicators like the per capita gross domestic product and the number of people in full-time work as well as more interesting figures such as the number of secure internet servers a country has and how well-rested people feel on a day-to-day basis.
The variables are then split into eight subindexes: economy, entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, education, health, safety and security, personal freedom, and social capital.
Here are the top-performing countries of the 142 countries the index looked at for their deductions.
16) Austria
Finishing inside the top 10 in two categories — health, and entrepreneurship and opportunity — wasn’t enough to stop Austria from sliding one place this year.
15) United Kingdom
The UK ranks highly when it comes to entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance as well as social capital. However, it fell two places this year.
14) Germany
Boasting the fifth-best economy in the world, Germany also ranks 6th in health.
13) Luxembourg
The country is highly ranked in personal freedom and health, as well as governance and economy. Luxembourg rose from ranking 16 in 2014 to 13 this year.
12) Iceland
Although it dropped a rank compared to last year, Iceland ranks in the top five in three sub-indexes; personal freedom, entrepreneurship and opportunity and safety and security.
11) United States
While the US ranks best in health, falling levels of safety and security have blighted its performance.
10) Ireland
Ireland is also among the five most tolerant countries towards immigrants and ranks fourth best in safety and security in the world.
9) Finland
Ranked the third best in safety and security and fifth best in governance, however, their relatively poor economy has pushed them down a rank from last year.
8) Netherlands
The Netherlands is ranked highly in education, social capital and economy.
7) Australia
The country has ranked seventh for the past three years and has the world’s best education system according to the index.
6) Canada
Canada is the true land of the free according to the index which ranks Canada it the best in personal freedom. The country is the most tolerant of immigrants in the world with 92% of people thinking the country is a good place for immigrants. Canada also ranks well it comes to education and economy index.
5) Sweden
The country ranks the best for entrepreneurship and opportunity and also fares well in safety and security.
4) New Zealand
One of the most tolerant countries towards immigrants, New Zealand ranks best in social capital and is also rated the most prosperous non-European nation.
3) Denmark
Ranked at number three, Denmark ranks the second-best when it comes to entrepreneurship and opportunity.
2) Switzerland
The country with the second highest rated economy, Switzerland ranked one in governance.
1) Norway
Norway is ranked as number one on the index. The Scandinavian country has topped the prosperity index for the past seven years. Norway ranked in the top 10 of every sub-index.
