Good news: Finland tops the Good Country Index

What makes a country “good”? According to the Good Country Index, it is measuring what a country contributes to humanity and what it takes away, in proportion to the size of its economy. By this measure, Finland is the “best” country on the planet.

Created by Simon Anholt, the index has measured the goodness of countries since 2014. Finland was sixth in that first edition and later topped the third version of the index. (We interviewed Anholt when Finland was previously number one, in 2019.)

In the results released in December 2024, Finland is first once again, followed by Sweden, Germany, Denmark and France. European countries account for most of the top places in the index, along with Canada (7), Australia (19), New Zealand (24), Singapore (28), Japan (34) and South Korea (39).

The index is normally released towards the end of the year. December is a good time to publish it, as the spirit of giving and charity is in peoples’ thoughts around the holiday season.

Addressing humanity’s challenges

The share of renewable energy in total consumption is one of the data points where Finland performs better than average.Photo: Martti Kainulainen/Lehtikuva

The premise behind the index is that most of the major challenges humanity faces today are borderless: climate change, economic crisis, poverty and species loss, for instance. The Good Country Index tries to measure how a country’s policies and behaviours affect the rest of the world. In this context, “good” refers to being altruistic and contributing to the common good of humanity.

The Good Country Index is compiled using 35 data points in the following seven categories.

• Science and Technology
• Culture
• International Peace and Security
• World Order
• Planet and Climate
• Prosperity and Equality
• Health and Wellbeing

Finland improves in most categories

Numerous festivals and other cultural events are held in Finland every year. One of them is the World Village Festival in Helsinki, highlighting sustainable development. Photo: Camilla Hanhirova/World Village Festival

Finland does not top any single category, but performs well in all of them. The country ranks in the top ten in six of the eight subclasses. Its lowest score is in International Peace and Security, where it is 18th.

In the Culture category, for example, Portugal is ranked first and Finland ninth. Finland does very well in criteria such as hosting international events, freedom of movement and press freedom. It does less well (but still above average) in exporting cultural products and paying Unesco dues.

Finland has improved in every category since the previous version, except for Planet and Climate, where it went from first to third in the rankings.

Finland #1, Sweden #2

Neighbours Finland (whose flag is on the left) and Sweden playfully compete with each other in numerous ways.Photo: Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva

The Good Country Index helps to promote dialogue and cooperation. Citizens can use it to question elected officials about policy, while decision-makers can use it to compare how their country performs against peers. A bit of friendly competition about who can do the most good can also be healthy. As the old joke goes, it doesn’t matter if Finland wins a competition – what is important is that Finland does better than Sweden.

By David J. Cord, January 2025