What Are the Best Countries to Invest in for This Year?

The World Bank Group has identified four factors that make a country attractive for individual persons as well as companies to invest in, which are

• the country’s people
• environment
• relationships
• framework

In February, US News published a ranking of 2018’s Best Countries, based on a survey of 21,000 from all over the globe. Respondents were asked questions about 80 different countries, and were asked to give them grades according to 65 categories, which included entrepreneurship, quality of living, and cultural influence.

With regards to investments, US News concentrated on 8 of those categories, namely, entrepreneurship, economic stability, favorable tax environment, innovation, skilled labor, technological expertise, dynamism, and corruption. US News took the results of 6,000 survey participants who are global business innovators, and came up with the following ranking, listed along with  the country’s population, GDP, and the GDP growth percentage in 2016.

1. Philippines

Population: 103.3 million

Total GDP: $304.9 billion

GDP growth: 6.9%

2. Indonesia

Population: 261.1 million

Total GDP: $932.3 billion

GDP growth: 5%

3. Poland

Population: 37.9 million

Total GDP: $469.5 billion

GDP growth: 2.9%

4. Malaysia

Population: 31.2 million

Total GDP: $296.4 billion

GDP growth: 4.2%

5. Singapore

Population: 5.6 million

Total GDP: $297.0 billion

GDP growth: 2%

6. Australia

Population: 24.1 million

Total GDP: $1.2 trillion

GDP growth: 2.8%

7. Spain

Population: 46.4 million

Total GDP: $1.2 trillion

GDP growth: 3.3%

8. Thailand

Population: 68.9 million

Total GDP: $406.8 billion

GDP growth: 3.2%

9. India

Population: 1.3 billion

Total GDP: $2.3 trillion

GDP growth: 7.1%

10. Oman

Population: 4.4 million

Total GDP: $66.3 billion

GDP growth: –%

11. Czech Republic

Population: 10.6 million

Total GDP: $192.9 billion

GDP growth: 2.6%

12. Finland

Population: 5.5 million

Total GDP: $236.8 billion

GDP growth: 1.9%

13. Uruguay

Population: 3.4 million

Total GDP: $52.4 billion

GDP growth: 1.5%

14. Turkey

Population: 79.5 million

Total GDP: $857.7 billion

GDP growth: 3.2%

15. Ireland

Population: 4.8 million

Total GDP: $294.1 billion

GDP growth: 5.1%

16. Netherlands

Population: 17.0 million

Total GDP: $770.8 billion

GDP growth: 2.2%

17. United Kingdom

Population: 65.6 million

Total GDP: $2.6 trillion

GDP growth: 1.8%

18. Brazil

Population: 207.7 million

Total GDP: $1.8 trillion

GDP growth: -3.6%

19. France

Population: 66.9 million

Total GDP: $2.5 trillion

GDP growth: 1.2%

20. Chile

Population: 17.9 million

Total GDP: $247 billion

GDP growth: 1.6%