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Category: Finland ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ (Page 2 of 3)

Switzerland remains the best country in the world ยป Canada has moved up to the second spot ยป U.S. News 2020 Best Countries rankings

2020-01-15 /

For Switzerland, the 2020 ranking is the the fourth consecutive yearhas been judged No. 1 by residents of 36 countries. Canada was chosen second, overtaking Japan in the U.S. News’ fifth annual survey.

The Best Countries report, produced from an annual global survey of more than 20,000 people in 36 countries including the United States, reflects increasingly negative views of the world and within countries. Nearly half of survey respondents say conditions around the world have worsened in the past year. Likewise, an increased percentage of people say the gap between the rich and poor has grown and that nationalism is increasing.

According to the ranking, here are the Top 25 Countries in the World

  1. Switzerland
  2. Canada
  3. Japan
  4. Germany
  5. Australia
  6. United Kingdom
  7. United States
  8. Sweden
  9. Netherlands
  10. Norway
  11. New Zealand
  12. France
  13. Denmark
  14. Finland
  15. China
  16. Singapore
  17. Italy
  18. Austria
  19. Spain
  20. South Korea
  21. Luxembourg
  22. United Arab Emirates
  23. Russia
  24. Portugal
  25. India

The Bottom 5 of the U.S. News 2020 Best Countries rankings are

  • Lebanon
  • Serbia
  • Oman
  • Belarus
  • Tunisia

See the full report.

 

 

LGBT travel index puts Sweden, Canada, and Norway at the top

2019-11-22 /

The LGBTQ+ Danger Index lists the 25 safest countries for LGBTQ+ travellers ยป

1. ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช Sweden
2. ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Canada
3. ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด Norway
4. ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡น Portugal
5. ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช Belgium
6. ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง United Kingdom
7. ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ Finland
8. ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท France
9. ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ธ Iceland
10. ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ Spain
11. ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡น Malta
12. ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฟ New Zealand
13. ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ Netherlands
14. ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Denmark
15. ๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆ South Africa
16. ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช Ireland
17. ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ Australia
18. ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡พ Uruguay
19. ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด Colombia
20. ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡น Austria
21. ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Germany
22. ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฎ Slovenia
23. ๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡บ Luxembourg
24. ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ United States
25. ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡บ Guam

 

Antonia Wilson, writing in the Guardian ยป

Sweden has been named the most LGBT-friendly country in the world for travellers according to new research into gay rights in 150 countries.

The LGBTQ+ Danger Index was created by ranking the 150 most-visited countries using eight factors, including legalised same-sex marriage, worker protection and whether, based on Gallup poll findings, it is a good place to live.

Canada ranked second-safest, followed by Norway, Portugal and Belgium. The UK is sixth safest on the list, but the US does not make the top 20. The researchers, American couple Asher and Lyric Fergusson, who blog about staying safe while travelling, said one reason the US is only at number 24 is because gay rights vary from state to state.

Read the whole article in The Guardian ยป

Japan and Singapore top 2019 list of world’s most powerful passports

2019-10-01 /

Euan McKirdy and Maureen O’Hare at CNN write ยป

Japan and Singapore have held onto their position as the world’s most travel-friendly passports.

That’s the view of the Henley Passport Index, which periodically measures the access each country’s travel document affords.

Singapore and Japan’s passports have topped the rankings thanks to both documents offering access to 190 countries each.

South Korea rubs shoulders with Finland and Germany in second place, with citizens of all three countries able to access 188 jurisdictions around the world without a prior visa.

Finland has benefited from recent changes to Pakistan‘s formerly highly restrictive visa policy. Pakistan now offers an ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) to citizens of 50 countries, including Finland, Japan, Spain, Malta, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates — but not, notably, the United States or the UK.

Read more of this article at CNN ยป

The best passports in 2019 are:

1. Japan, Singapore (190 destinations)
2. Finland, Germany, South Korea (188)
3. Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg (187)
4. France, Spain, Sweden (186)
5. Austria, Netherlands, Portugal (185)
6. Belgium, Canada, Greece, Ireland, Norway, United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland (184)
7. Malta, Czech Republic (183)
8. New Zealand (182)
9. Australia, Lithuania, Slovakia (181)
10. Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Slovenia (180)
More at the Henley Passport Index

Notes

ยป Canada has been ranked 6th four years in a row. They were ranked 2nd in 2014, then dropped to 4th in 2015, and have been holding steady in 6th since 2016.

ยป The USA been on a steady decline since 2014 when they were ranked 1st. They dropped to 2nd in 2015, 4th in 2016, 5th in 2017 and 2018, and to 6th this year.

ยป The UK has been on a steady decline in the rankings, dropping from 1st in 2015, to 3rd in 2016, to 4th in 2017, to 5th in 2018, to 6th this year.

World’s Most Powerful Passports as of Q3 2019

2019-07-05 /

The Henley Passport Index has released its third quarter ranking of the worldโ€™s most powerful passports in 2019.

The index is compiled from data provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and measures global mobility based on visa-free access to destinations. It also uses data from the indexโ€™s 14-year history, โ€œto show how travel mobility has changed over the past decade, looking at which passports have gained in strength and which have fallen behind.โ€

Japan and Singapore hold the worldโ€™s strongest passports, with Visa-free access to 189 destinations. South Korea dropped to second place, joining Germany and Finland with Visa-free access to 187 destinations.

The United Arab Emirates entered the top 20 index for the first time in the listโ€™s 14-year-history, moving up an astonishing 41 spots. Other countries that climbed standings include Taiwan, which climbed 24 places over the past ten years and ranks 30th.

The USA and the UK each dropped to the lowest position theyโ€™ve held since 2010, sharing the sixth spot with Canada, Greece, Norway, Belgium and Ireland.

Pakistan now offers an ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) to citizens of 50 countries, including Finland, Japan, Malta, Spain, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates — but not, notably, the USA or the UK.

Afghanistan is once again at the other end of the rankings, with its citizens needing a prior visa for all but 25 destinations worldwide.

Most Powerful Passports of Q3 2019:
1. Japan, Singapore (189 Destinations)
2. South Korea, Germany, Finland (187)
3. Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg (186)
4. France, Sweden, Spain (185)
5. Austria, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland (184)
6. Canada, Norway, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, UK, US (183)
7. Malta (182)
8. Czechia (181)
9. Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Lithuania (180)
10. Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia (179)

The Least Powerful Passports of Q3 2019:

101. Bangladesh, Eritrea, Iran, Lebanon, North Korea (39 Destinations)
102. Nepal (38)
103. Libya, Palestinian, Sudan (37)
104. Yemen (33)
105. Somalia (31)
106. Pakistan (30)
107. Syria (29)
108. Iraq (27)
109. Afghanistan (25)

Source: Henley Passport Index

Best Countries for Quality of Life

2019-04-12 /

Through all phases of life, Canada and Scandinavian countries treat their citizens well, according to US News.

  1. Canada
  2. Sweden
  3. Denmark
  4. Norway
  5. Switzerland
  6. Finland
  7. Australia
  8. Netherlands
  9. New Zealand
  10. Germany
  11. Belgium
  12. United Kingdom
  13. Japan
  14. Luxemburg
  15. Ireland
  16. France
  17. USA
  18. Singapore
  19. Portugal
  20. China
  21. Spain
  22. Italy
  23. South Korea
  24. Poland
  25. Czech Republic

More info at US News

Most Expensive Countries To Live In 2019

2019-04-11 /

According to CEOWORLD Magazine:

1.๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ Switzerland
2.๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ธ Iceland
3.๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด Norway
4.๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ธ Bahamas
5.๐Ÿ‡ฑ๐Ÿ‡บ Luxembourg
6.๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต Japan
7.๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Denmark
8.๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Hong Kong
9.๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท South Korea
10.๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช Ireland
11.๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท France
12.๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ Netherlands
13.๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฑ Israel
14.๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช Belgium
15.๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ Finland

More interesting world ranking stats here.

Canada and Scandinavian countries top the 2019 Quality of Life Rankings

2019-01-25 /

The BAV Group, a unit of communications company VMLY&R, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, surveyed 20,300 citizens from 36 countries in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa were asked to score 80 countriesย on 75 different attributes.

The attributes were grouped under different categories: adventure, citizenship, cultural influence, entrepreneurship, heritage, movers, open for business, power and quality of life.

The Quality of Life ranking is based on an equally weighted average of scores from nine attributes: affordable, a good job market, economically stable, family friendly, income equality, politically stable, safe, well-developed public education system and well-developed public health system.

2019 Quality of Life Rankings

  1. Canada (no change from 2018)
  2. Sweden (#3 in 2018)
  3. Denmark (#2 in 2018)
  4. Norway (no change from 2018)
  5. Switzerland (#6 in 2018)
  6. Finland (#7 in 2018)
  7. Australia (#5 in 2018)
  8. Netherlands (no change from 2018)
  9. New Zealand (no change in 2018)
  10. Germany (no change in 2018)

Read more

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