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The main finding of the report is positive, that some of the world’s poorest countries are consistently improving areas such as life expectancy, school attendance and per capita income.

Even the countries at the bottom of the list, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are among those who showed the greatest improvement.

Meanwhile, another report released today shows Canada has moved up its economic ranking to sixth out of 16 countries — but it’s mostly due to the weakness of other countries.

The Conference Board of Canada says the country has retained its “B” grade and improved its ranking from 11th since its last report card in pre-recession 2008, adding that part of the reason the surge is because some European countries going through tough times.

READ THE FULL REPORT FROM THE UN

The board says with the exception of inflation and employment growth, Canada ranks far below the highest-ranked countries on other economic indicators such as productivity and attracting global investment.

Despite its economic challenges, the United States ranks fourth, two places ahead of Canada with slightly better productivity and a higher standard of living. While Norway and Australia are the top economic performers with both countries scoring “A” grades.

Canada’s improved ranking doesn’t completely reflect its performance, said the report released on Thursday.

“We have moved up, but some of it is because others have gotten a lot worse,” said Kip Beckman, principal economist at the independent research organization.