Methodology: How the 2018 Best Countries Were Ranked – “Behind a country’s wealth and success are the policies that create possibilities, the people that drive the effort and the history that shapes the environment and perspective. Globalization has expanded a country’s presence beyond its physical borders, and the 2018 Best Countries rankings seek to understand a nation’s worth beyond hard metrics. The 2018 Best Countries report and rankings are based on how global perceptions define countries in terms of a number of qualitative characteristics, impressions that have the potential to drive trade, travel and investment and directly affect national economies. The report covers perceptions of 80 nations.”