The ranking's authors say they also used data from the World Bank and the United Nations on migrant populations in different countries, as well as the amount of remittance sent back to their country of birth. The immigration project is part of a broader ranking, launched by U.S. News and World Report last year, that attempts to determine the world's “best” countries in the same way that the publication also ranks colleges, hospitals and cars.

AD

AD

Eric Gertler, co-chairman of U.S. News and the New York Daily News, said that the experience of creating the best countries ranking showed them that many people view immigration as the most important issue in the world.

“With the recent spotlight on immigration in the U.S. and abroad, we wanted to dive into its potential benefits and challenges on a country’s perceived economic status in the world,” Gertler said.

Specifically, immigration in Sweden became the subject of an unusual public debate in the U.S. this year, with President Trump suggesting at a rally in February that immigration had led to problems in Sweden and that the country should serve as a model for how the U.S. should not allow some immigrants in. “They took in large numbers and they are having problems like they never thought possible,” Trump said, sparking a flurry of angry responses from Swedes.

AD

AD

Sweden had become a popular destination for refugees from Africa and the Middle East over the past few years, taking in more per capita than any other European nation at the height of the migrant influx in 2015. Though the U.S. News ranking is not designed to look at refugee or asylum policy specifically, it does consider measures relevant to it.

“While our methodology did not focus on refugees specifically, it did take into account immigration policies and integration measures per analysis from the United Nations,” said Deidre McPhillips, a U.S. News data reporter who helped design the rankings. “Our aim with this package was to focus on the economic aspects of immigration and the impacts this could have on a country's perceived standing in the world.”

Sweden wasn't the only Nordic country to fare well — Norway, Finland and Denmark also took places in the top 10, largely due to favorable perceptions found in the survey about their economies and commitment to income equality. Other countries, such as Canada and Switzerland, were given positive marks not only for their economy but also integration measures for immigrants, such as language training.

AD

AD

While the U.S. scored well because of the large numbers of remittances, U.S. News said that the country fell in the rankings due to its perceived economic inequality. Britain ranked even lower — 17th — despite its strong economy, because its immigration policy specifically favored its own nationals. U.S. News noted that it was one of only six countries that had similar policies, including Saudi Arabia and Myanmar.

Generally, European and North American nations rank highest, though some European nations — most notably Serbia (68) and the Czech Republic (50) — ranked far lower. The highest-ranking Middle Eastern country was the United Arab Emirates at 15, while the highest-ranking Asian nation was Singapore at 18. Brazil is the highest-ranking country in South America at 32 and South Africa is the highest-ranking African nation at 45.

In total, 80 countries were included in the ranking. Kenya came bottom of the list, preceded by Guatemala and Tunisia.

AD

AD

The full ranking is below:

RANK COUNTRY 1 Sweden 2 Canada 3 Switzerland 4 Australia 5 Germany 6 Norway 7 United States 8 Netherlands 9 Finland 10 Denmark 11 Luxembourg 12 Austria 13 New Zealand 14 France 15 United Arab Emirates 16 Ireland 17 United Kingdom 18 Singapore 19 Italy 20 Japan 21 China 22 Spain 23 Qatar 24 Russia 25 South Korea 26 Portugal 27 Greece 28 Israel 29 Slovenia 30 Oman 31 Ukraine 32 Brazil 33 Saudi Arabia 34 Romania 35 Argentina 36 Panama 37 Bahrain 38 Belarus 39 Chile 40 Bulgaria 41 Mexico 42 Turkey 43 Poland 44 Uruguay 45 South Africa 46 Kazakhstan 47 Hungary 48 Croatia 49 Costa Rica 50 Czech Republic 51 Thailand 52 Indonesia 53 Lebanon 54 Morocco 55 Colombia 56 Latvia 57 Malaysia 58 Jordan 59 Philippines 60 Bolivia 61 Azerbaijan 62 Vietnam 63 Ecuador 64 Egypt 65 Nigeria 66 Angola 67 Algeria 68 Serbia 69 Iran 70 Dominican Republic 71 Sri Lanka 72 India 73 Peru 74 Burma (Myanmar) 75 Pakistan 76 Ghana 77 Tanzania 78 Tunisia 79 Guatemala 80 Kenya