The world’s most powerful countries also are the ones that consistently dominate news headlines, preoccupy policymakers and shape global economic patterns. Their foreign policies and military budgets are tracked religiously. When they make a pledge, at least some in the international community
trust they will keep it.
The
2020 Best Countries rankings, formed in partnership with BAV Group, a unit of global marketing communications company VMLY&R, and the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, are based on a survey that asked more than 20,000 people from four regions to associate 73 countries with specific attributes.
The
Power subranking is based on an equally weighted average of scores from five country attributes that related to a country's power: a leader, economically influential, politically influential, strong international alliances and strong military. The Power subranking score had an 8% weight in the overall Best Countries ranking.
There was no change this year in the top 10 countries seen as being the most powerful, though two of them shuffled positions. The
United States, which is perceived to be the most powerful country, has the world’s largest economy and biggest military budget, spending over
$649 billion on military hardware and personnel in 2018. The country is a leader in the so-called War on Terror, is by far the largest contributor to NATO and cements alliances by giving out billions of dollars in military aid to nations worldwide. The U.S. spent slightly more than $35 billion in economic aid and nearly $15 billion in military aid in
2017, the most recent year data is available.
Russia and
China, the next two countries perceived to be the most powerful, are among the world’s top four military spenders. Following the top three are
Germany, the
U.K.,
France and
Japan – countries that have large economies and give out
high amounts of international aid.
Israel, , which take the eighth spot, spends a higher percentage of its GDP on military spending than the U.S., South Korea and Saudi Arabia traded positions this year, ranking No. 9 and No. 10, respectively.
Countries perceived to be less powerful tended to be smaller nations with medium to small economies. Slovenia, a small country in Southeastern Europe, is viewed as the least powerful nation. Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania and Central Europe’s
Slovakia round out the bottom five.
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