Country Level

The Market Potential Index (MPI), an indexing study conducted annually by MSU-CIBER, helps companies rank emerging markets on eight dimensions. The dimensions are then combined to create an overall market potential index. The latest rankings are provided on the site as well as access to past analysis.

A.M. Best Country Risk Ratings provides a list classifying various countries into the level of risk inherent in the country's governmental, economic, and social stability factors. The methodology uses country risk analysis to determine how the factors outside an insurer's control affect its ability to meet its obligations to its policyholders. The site allows you to access various country data regarding financial, economic, and political risk. The site also contains additional reports and data available for purchase.

The Foreign Direct Investment Confidence (FDI) Index prepared by A.T. Kearney is an annual survey which tracks the impact of likely political, economic, and regulatory changes on the foreign direct investment intentions and preferences of CEOs, CFOs, and other top executives of Global 1000 companies. The report includes detailed commentary on the markets and the impact a variety of global trade issues have on their FDI attractiveness, as well as a ranking of the top 25 countries.

The Global Cities Index provides a comprehensive ranking of the leading global cities from the world. It is designed to track the way cities maneuver as their populations grow and the world continues to shrink. The assessment is based on a country's economic standing, globalization rate, human capital, information and technology, cultural experience, and political engagement. The complete rankings, information about methodology, and expert analysis are all provided on the site. The index updates every year. Downloads in multiple file formats are available.

The annual Global Services Location Index, formerly called the Offshore Location Attractiveness Index, is a tool to help companies understand and compare the factors that make countries attractive as potential locations for offshore services. It measures the viability of countries as an offshore destination based on their financial attractiveness, people skills and availability, and business environment. The report and ranking files are available in PDF format.

The A.T. Kearney Global Retail Development Index ranks emerging countries based on a set of twenty-five variables including four key variables: country risk, market attractiveness, market saturation, and sales growth. In addition to the current year's index, the reports for previous years can be accessed on this page.  The Global Retail Development Index is available for download as a PDF. 

AON Crisis Management Web Analytics includes a Political Risk Map that allows the user to select and view risks by country, region, risk type, or risk level and provides overall levels and types of risk in relation to global changes. Users may also choose to view the Terrorism Threat Map, which offers similar features to assess risk related to terrorist activity. Free registration is required to gain access to the portal. 

The Economic Freedom of the World Annual Report, produced by the Cato Institute, ranks countries based on freedom of exchange, market coordination, rule of law, security of property rights, and other dimensions related to economic freedom. Current and past versions of the report are available in PDF format.

The Commitment to Development Index is an annual ranking that grades several developed nations on how their aid, trade, migration, finance, technology, security, and environmental policies influence the development of poor nations. The site explains the methodology and the ranking of the nations. Overall country rankings are also provided.

Coface's Country Risk Assessments provide risk ratings for individual countries as well as industry sectors. Ratings for countries are based on criteria including economic, financial, and political data. Ratings also allow the user to evaluate the overall business climate in a given country.

Delcredere | Ducroire provides both political risk and commercial risk assessment for countries around the world. The countries are analyzed according to economic and financial indicators like real interest rate, GDP growth rate, and inflation rate, as well as indicators reflecting a country's payment experience for commercial risk. The risk ratings are separated out by the type of commercial transaction and the time horizon.

The Global Connectedness Index ranks 125 countries based on their integration into the world economy. It provides a detailed analysis of the flows that connect the world. The study indicates that globalization is still not as advanced as most people believe and that continued economic integration could spur significant global gross domestic product gains as global connectedness has enormous room to expand, even among the most connected countries. The complete Global Connectedness Index is available for download. 

The Fitch Ratings Sovereigns Group provides credit research and opinion on more than 100 countries, and assigns ratings to the foreign and local currency debt of sovereign governments that account for virtually all of sovereign international debt issuance. A subscription is required to access this information. 

Forbes provides an annual ranking of the best countries for business; examining over 139 countries on multiple factors - including gross domestic product (GDP) growth, GDP per capita, and trade balance as a percentage of GDP. To develop the rankings, Forbes looked at 11 aspects for each country including property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, trade freedom, red tape regulations, investor protection, and stock market performance.

Published annually by Freedom House, Freedom on the Net ranks the internet and digital media freedom of several countries based on three factors: obstacles to access, limits on content, and violation of user rights. Individual country reports are available in HTML format, or one can view the complete publication in PDF format.

Produced by FutureBrand, the Country Index collects data from thousands of diverse global travelers to develop rankings for countries in a variety of areas. Some sample areas include standard of living, easiest to do business in, conferences, and political freedom. Users can access various reports for free but the some reports must be purchased.

Global-Production Research provides comparative information on the potential and performance of 25 emerging economies as locations for global production and sourcing. Services provided include the Global Production Scoreboard, which benchmarks emerging economies as locations for global production, and rankings for selected industries. Some rankings require registration.

The Innovation Cities Program's Top 100 World Cities for an Innovation Economy ranks cities all around the globe on their innovation in their businesses and economies. A city's innovation is determined and ranked by a score of three main factors of innovation: cultural assets, human infrastructure, and networked markets. Rankings are available based on cities all around the world, as well as cities in specific regions and emerging markets.

The Cost of Living City Rankings survey by Mercer measures the cost of living in 214 cities across 6 continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment. It is the world’s most comprehensive cost of living survey and is used to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees. The site provides the top 10 cities for free and the complete report is available for purchase.

The Global Opportunity Index (GOI) by the Milken Institute ranks countries based on five categories: economic fundamentals, financial services, business perception, institutional framework, and international standard policy. The index looks at the economic and financial factors that influence investment activities, and is unique in that it looks at factors relevant to both FDI and portfolio flows.

The Happy Planet Index ranks over 150 countries based on the life satisfaction, life expectancy, and ecological footprint exhibited by each country. It is a resource designed to rank and compare countries based on the number of "happy lives" produced per unit of environmental output, and the extent to which these countries produce "happy lives" for their citizens. Data is accessible through an interactive global map or a table.

The Observatory of Economic Complexity, created by Alexander Simoes at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), ranks countries based on the amount of useful knowledge embedded in it. The ranking is based on the idea that a country's economy grows as the complexity and specialization of its products increases.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) Country Risk Classification measures the country credit risk and the likelihood that a country will service its external debt. The index uses a scale of eight risk categories to determine a country's credit risk. The rankings are available in PDF format.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Indicators of Employment Protection measure the procedures and costs involved in dismissing workers and the procedures involved in hiring workers on certain contracts. Data is available for most countries in PDF format.

Paying Taxes is a study from PwC and the World Bank that ranks the ease of paying taxes across 189 countries around the world. The study also measures the administrative burden of tax payments and contributions by recording the taxes medium-sized companies must pay in a given year. The site allows the user to either order a hard copy of the study or download it in PDF format.

The Country Sustainability Ranking by RobecoSAM and Robeco ranks countries on their Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance. The score for each country is based on 17 ESG indicators.

The KOF Index of Globalization, provided by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, measures globalization on economic, social, and political dimensions by looking at economic flows, restrictions, information flows, personal contact, and cultural proximity. Detailed data is available for download, and users can utilize the mapping and graphing tools that add an informative visual element to the data. Data from 1970-present is available for over 200 countries.

The Financial Secrecy Index, by Tax Justice Network, ranks countries based on their financial secrecy laws and the amount of offshore financial activities. The index was first released in 2015.

The Good Country Index was created by Simon Anholt, Honorary Professor at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. The index ranks countries based on their contributions to the common good of humanity and also their negative impact on the common good, relative to the country's size. The index is global in scope, looking at how countries impact the wider world.

Provided by Transparency International, the annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) focuses on corruption related to tackling climate change, documenting in detail risks for businesses, ranging from small entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa to multinationals from Europe and North America. The CPI ranks countries by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys. Rankings dating from 1995 to present are available. Annually updated, reports can be purchased in print form or can be downloaded (free) in PDF format.

The U.S. News & World Report Best Countries to Invest In Ranking compares countries on eight equally weighted attributes pertaining to investment. The ranking is published in partnership with BAV Consulting and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

The United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Reports provide information on human development index trends worldwide. It allows one to build their own development index, explore development indicators, and also chart human development statistics for many nations.

Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index is part of the Climate Change Adaptation program of the University of Notre Dame Environmental Change Initiative. Readiness measures a country’s ability to leverage investments and convert them to adaptation actions. This ranking compares the readiness of countries based on the factors of economics, governance, and social readiness.

The World Bank Logistics Performance Index (LPI) is an interactive benchmarking tool to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in trade logistics and what they can do to improve their performance. Based on a worldwide survey of global freight forwarders and express carriers, the LPI offers profiles and insight into logistics friendliness across 150+ countries.

World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) provides a ranking of 215 countries and territories based on six dimensions of governance, including political stability, government effectiveness, and control of corruption. The report is an aggregate project with rankings beginning in 1996. Data is available interactively and in PDF and Excel format. Documentation on the methodology of the indicators is also available.

The report identifies and measures the underlying factors that contribute to high rates of economic growth in the medium term (a time horizon of about 5 years). These factors are quantified and then combined into an Index of Competitiveness. The website provides access only to an interactive map (link on right column) that provides the current state of world countries with various hotspots clickable for detailed explanation. The report is available in PDF format; rankings are available in PDF and Excel formats.

The Global Enabling Trade Report analyzes which countries around the world enable trade from country to destination by measuring market access, border administration, transport and communications infrastructure, and the business environment in that country. The report mainly focuses on the impact of global value chains and logistics investments. The report and rankings are available in PDF format.

A report produced in cooperation with INSEAD, World Economic Forum, and the World Bank, the Global Information Technology Report ranks the world economies in terms of networked readiness and effects on economic growth and productivity. The rankings as well as a selection of chapters are available online.

The Open Data Barometer, published by the World Wide Web Foundation, grades countries on the prevalence of open data in the country, along with the impact that existing open data is having on business, politics, and society. Open data must be available online, open-licensed, machine-readable, available in bulk, and free of charge.

The Web Index is designed and produced by the World Wide Web Foundation and measures the Internet's growth, utility, and impact on countries around the world. Many indicators are incorporated into this study that assess the political, economic, and social impact of the Web. The index also gives details about the Web connectivity and infrastructure of each country.

The Environmental Performance Index was first released at the World Economic Forum in 2001. The index measures countries on their efforts to have a positive impact on the environment.