Finland ranked fifth in Good Country Index

The Good Country Index examines the external impacts of countries across the categories of culture, world order, health and wellbeing, planet and climate, prosperity and equality, science and technology, and international peace and security.

Finland performed the best in the planet and climate category largely due to its high level of compliance with environmental agreements, small ecological footprint relative to its size and low consumption of ozone-depleting substances.

The country ranked fifth in prosperity and equality owing mostly to a low risk of money laundering and terrorist financing and 11th in culture owing to extensive press freedoms, lack of visa restrictions and high number of international events. A high number of patents and high amount of funding for food aid were key factors for its top-20 rankings in science and technology (17th) and health and wellbeing (18th), respectively.

Finland fared the worst in the category of international peace and order (63rd) primarily due to its weapon and ammunition exports and high number of casualties of international organised crime. A lack of charitable donations by the population and low number of refugees hosted, meanwhile, undermined its contributions to world order (31st).

The only four countries to rank ahead of Finland were Sweden (1st), Denmark (2nd), Germany (3rd) and the Netherlands (4th). Sweden ranked in the top two in three of the seven categories – prosperity and equality, health and wellbeing, and planet and climate – and fell outside the top 20 in only one.

The Good Country Index is designed specifically to measure how countries contribute to or take away from the common good of humanity outside their borders, using reliable data sources.