The World's Most Powerful Countries Have Been Ranked & Here's Why Canada Fell Short

A new ranking of the world's most powerful countries has revealed which nations have the most influence as well as political, economic and military power, and Canada's position may be surprising.

The U.S. News & World Report compiled a list of the globe's most powerful nations as part of its annual "Best Countries" report, which scores and ranks 85 countries based on various attributes.

According to the ranking, the U.S. is the most powerful country for 2022, described as the "world's most dominant economic and military power" out of the 85 nations.

Some of the reasons the country ranked so highly include its significant international alliances, strong military, and economic and political influence, according to U.S. News.

Following the U.S., China ranked as the second most powerful country across the globe, thanks to its strong economic influence and exports, followed by Russia in third, which scored highly for its military and political influence.

The three countries were followed by Germany and the U.K. to round out the top five.

While Canada did rank highly overall, it didn't manage to break the top 10 most powerful nations, coming in at number 12 on the list and beating out countries like India (13), Ukraine (14), Italy (15) and Australia (16).

According to the ranking, Canada scored highly for its economic influence and international alliances but didn't fare as well for its exports (which received a score of 33.6 out of 100), its political influence (33.4) or its military, which received an abysmal score of 7.7 out of 100.

While the nation didn't score very highly for power, it's worth noting that Canada was named the third-best country in the world overall thanks to factors like its quality of life, social purpose and agility.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.