The feat of rating the world's countries from best to worst seems megalomaniac, but the U.S. News & World Report has been successfully publishing a ranking based on these sprawling criteria since 2016. On Wednesday, the 2023 edition was released, showing that the United States had slipped one spot to rank 5.

The change was widely reported (and bemoaned by some). However, looking at all eight editions of the report so far, the U.S. ranked even lower than in 2023 in between 2017 and 2021, meaning it scored worse in five out of eight years the ranking has been published. In 2018 and 2019, it ranked 8th, the lowest score it ever received.

Averaging out all scores countries have earned, the U.S. shares a 7th rank with Australia, which was up to rank 4 this year. After it was included for the first time in 2017, Switzerland has ranked as number one almost continuously. Canada, Germany and Japan also have higher average scores over time than the U.S., even though the latter two have slipped quite low in recent years.

The global dislike for then-President Donald Trump has been cited as a reason why the U.S. fared poorly between 2017 and 2020. With 2021 being the first survey carried out after Brexit was finalized, the U.K. saw a drop in that year and has since lost even more ground.

In 2022, the U.S. was back in rank 4—its inaugural 2016 score—after gaining more points for indicators quality of life and social purpose. Increases in the entrepreneurship as well as the cultural and natural heritage scores also saw the country improve its standing opposite other nations that year, leading to a much higher score when comparing to previous years.

U.S. not "open for business"?

Despite ranking first for entrepreneurship in 2023, overtaking both Germany and Japan since 2021, the U.S. saw a big drop in the "open for business" category and is now ranked 59th for the metric, down from 53rd. As a result, its overall score dropped one rank. The U.S. is also ranked first for power and agility.

Germany, on the other hand, lost points for agility, meaning fewer respondents see it as modern, responsive and progressive, as well as in the category movers, which means fewer think of it as unique and dynamic. The country dropped five ranks compared with 2022. Japan meanwhile struggled in the categories entrepreneurship, openness for business, power and social purpose.

While the U.S. World & News Report ranking is mainly based on surveys that show how people all over the world view specific countries, answers are structured into 10 subrankings which are then weighted for GDP per capita at purchasing power parity—creating a hybrid ranking of quantitative and qualitative metrics.

The top 8 of the ranking has been mostly uniform over the years, with the exception of 2021 and 2023 when New Zealand was featured, first in rank 7 and then in rank 8, while first Sweden and then the U.K. ranked 9th those years.

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Charted by Statista