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US News & World Report has recently come out with its Best Countries survey and Canada has just scored a hat trick! What? You don’t know what a hat trick is? It’s when you score 3 goals in an ice hockey game. Trust me. It’s not an easy to do, and only a few players normally get a handful of hat tricks over the course of a very long NHL season.
So how has Canada scored 3 times on the US News & World Report survey?
Well, the survey is based on a detailed survey of over 20,000 respondents around the world who are asked a number of questions about life in a list of countries spread around the globe. And Canada came it at number 1, 2, and 3 on 3 key metrics in the survey. We feel these metrics are perhaps the most important factors that make up the character of a country, especially when it comes to deciding where to immigrate to.
Let’s find out what these 3 factors are!
What Are US News & World Report Sub-rankings?
The survey actually calls the factors “sub-rankings” and listed 9 of them. In the following table we list all 9 of them:
| Sub-ranking | Weight | Identifying features |
|---|---|---|
| Adventure | 2 % | Friendly, fun, pleasant climate, scenic, sexy |
| Citizenship | 15.88 % | Human rights, environment, gender equality, progressive, religious freedom, property rights, trusted, well-distributed political power |
| Cultural Influence | 12.96 % | Significant entertainment, fashionable, happy, culturally influential, modern, prestigious, trendy |
| Entrepreneurship | 17.87 % | Connected, educated, entrepreneurial, innovative, access to capital, skilled labour, tech expertise, transparent business practices, infrastructure, legal framework |
| Heritage | 1.13 % | History, great food, cultural attractions |
| Movers | 14.36 % | Different, dynamic, unique |
| Open for Business | 11.08 % | Bureaucracy, corruption, favorable taxes, transparent government processes |
| Power | 7.95 % | Economically & Politically influential, strong alliances, strong military |
| Quality of Life | 16.77 % | God job market, affordable, economically stable, family friendly, income equality, politically stable, safe, good public education, good public health |
Now, notice the so-called weights? Those measure how much a given sub-ranking contributes to a nation’s prosperity. The more they tend to contribute to prosperity, the higher the weight assigned to them.
Ok. Now, which 3 sub-rankings do you think Canada scored 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in?
So, How did Canada Do?
Here’s another way to think about that question. Which 3 of the above 9 sub-rankings do you think matter most to you when deciding which country to move to with your family and start a new life in? Not to visit. Not to party in. But to get a job and find a home and settle down in.
Keep those in mind as we now reveal which sub-rankings Canada scored its hat trick in. Here’s the table with Canada’s complete results. The hat trick is in the first 3 rows:
| Sub-ranking | Weight | Canada’s ranking |
|---|---|---|
| Quality of Life | 16.77 % | 1st |
| Citizenship | 15.88 % | 2nd |
| Open for Business | 11.08 % | 3rd |
| Entrepreneurship | 17.87 % | 6th |
| Cultural influence | 12.96% | 11th |
| Power | 7.95 % | 12th |
| Adventure | 2 % | 16th |
| Movers | 14.36 % | 37th |
| Heritage | 1.13 % | 40th |
Did the results surprise you? Or did they confirm why you might be interested in moving to Canada? Or why you’re glad you did? Let’s consider the top 3 sub-rankings, Canada’s hat trick in other words.
Canada is Number One in Quality of Life
Clearly, quality of life is the most important sub-ranking of them all as it summarizes what the respondents think of the overall life in any given country on the survey. Look at the terms used in the survey under quality of life:
- economically and politically stable
- family friendly
- affordable
- good public health and education
- safe
- a good job market.
Does anyone really think that these qualities might not describe Canada?
Canada is Number Two in Citizenship
Only Sweden beat out Canada in this sub-ranking, but it must have been close. Canada has placed emphasis on as well as devoted considerable effort and resources towards developing an inclusive and diverse society. One that is far more so than most European societies (including, one could argue, Sweden). Consider the terms that describe citizenship:
- human rights
- environment
- gender equality
- progressive
- religious freedom
- property rights
- trustworthy
- political power that is well-distributed.
Think of the Citizenship sub-ranking this way: The factors that make up citizenship are what make quality of life in Canada so darn good. They provide the foundation for people – especially new Canadians – to settle down and get on with their lives in stable, friendly – unless you’re on opposing curling teams – and prosperous conditions, but ones that above all are fair.
Canada is Open for Business (and Number Three in the World)
This sub-ranking is why Canada’s economy has continued to grow steadily at a rate often surpassing expectations and has managed to avoid recessions more so than in previous decades.
If you’re looking to move to Canada and start a new business or set up a subsidiary or a franchise, these are the things you care about. Of course, quality of life and citizenship are key, but so is the legal and political environment. Canada scores its 3rd goal and gets its hat trick because the country manages to be both open for business and a good place to live. Here are the terms associated with this sub-ranking:
- Bureaucracy not a problem
- Corruption levels very low
- Tax environment favorable
- Government practices transparent.
Think of it this way: Do you know of any immigration system that places the actual polices and detailed procedures that immigration officials use on their website as a courtesy to users interested in moving to Canada? IRCC’s website is like a taste of the way business is done in Canada. It might not be quite as regulation-free as Singapore perhaps. But it is an efficient and transparent environment that any businessperson from anywhere would appreciate.
So there’s Canada’s hat trick. In the top 3 in 3 of the most important sub-rankings including the all-important quality of life sub-ranking. And if you scroll down the table with Canada’s complete results shown above, you’ll notice that Canada does best in sub-rankings with higher weightings – the ones that contribute the most to a country’s economy.
Ok, So Canada Is Not Perfect
There’s one exception to that, and that’s the Movers sub-ranking. Here Canada ranks a disappointing 40th in a sub-ranking that has a 14.36 % weighting. Movers are countries that are considered:
- Different
- Distinctive
- Dynamic
- Unique.
The top 3 countries in the Movers sub-ranking are:
- India
- China
- United Arab Emirates.
Yes. India, China and the UAE each have unique societies and cultures. No doubt about that.
But, which two countries send the most people to Canada? Highly skilled professionals to a great extent? Yeah. China and India. And the UAE has Canada as a top destination for immigration as well.
So while one of the most diverse countries in the world whose immigration policy is helping shape how nations will look in the future might not make the top as far as the Movers sub-ranking is concerned, Canada is clearly the kind of place where so-called movers themselves … wait for it … like to move to.
