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Trust us, Americans won’t like this news.
On Wednesday, U.S. News & World Report released its 2020 list of the best countries, and one of the more depressing findings — at least for Americans — was this: “While the U.S. is perceived as the most powerful country in the world, data shows it is not perceived as very trustworthy,” U.S. News writes. Since 2016, when the first “best countries” report came out, “perceptions of the U.S. as being trustworthy have steadily dropped to a record-low of 16.3 on a 100-point scale.” The publication adds that this was “the sharpest drop in global trust since 2016 among all countries assessed.”
So what’s going on here? Kevin Drew, the assistant managing editor for Best Countries at U.S. News & World Report, noted that some recent statements by President Trump and media reports may have “rattled public opinions in various countries about the U.S. commitment to its traditional strategic alliances.” These included media reports from 2019 that the U.S. might leave NATO, “last year’s abrupt announcement that the U.S. would withdraw its forces from Syria” and “European leaders increasingly express[ing] their frustration with Trump’s global leadership,” Drew wrote.
But it’s not just about politics, Pew Research Center data suggests: “Large majorities say the U.S. doesn’t take the interests of other countries into account when making foreign policy decisions,” Pew reveals — which could impact how trustworthy people find America.
Whatever the reasons, other countries don’t have this trustworthiness problem: Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark topped the U.S. News list as the most trustworthy.
10 most trustworthy countries
Canada
Switzerland
Norway
Sweden
Denmark
New Zealand
Finland
Australia
Netherlands
Germany
The best countries report — a collaboration between U.S. News & World Report, BAV Group and the Wharton School — examined 73 nations across 65 metrics (measuring things like quality of life, cultural influence, entrepreneurship and business climate, power and more) using a survey of more than 20,000 global respondents in 36 countries.
Overall, Switzerland landed on the best country overall list, with U.S. News noting that “the county ranked among the top 10 countries in five of the 9 subrankings, including No. 2 in open for business and No. 7 for both citizenship and quality of life.” Canada scored the No. 2 slot and Japan No. 3.
The U.S. rose one spot to No. 7 — after being “bolstered by being seen as the most powerful country,” U.S. News writes. It also scored highly for its entrepreneurship and cultural influence, but low on the trustworthy scale.
10 best countries
Switzerland
Canada
Japan
Germany
Australia
United Kingdom
United States
Sweden
Netherlands
Norway
No matter what country you live in, you may hold some bleak views of our world: “Nearly half of survey respondents say conditions around the world have worsened in the past year,” Drew writes in an analysis of the report. What’s more, only 40% of people think the world is safe these days, a full 82% think there is a leadership crisis in the world today, and nearly three in four (74%) say the global economy is in decline. On the plus side, more than half (57%) think their particular country is headed in the right direction.
