Canada ranked second best country in the world

Canada is taking the number 2 spot once again this year on U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of the best countries on Earth.

With an overall score of 9.9 out of 10, our country is second only to Switzerland on the newly-released 2018 Best Countries ranking report, followed closely by Germany, The U.K. and Japan.

The 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."

Basically, researchers from Y&R's BAV Group and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania surveyed 21,000 people across the globe on how much they associate particular attributes with 80 different nations.

Canadians are seen as very friendly. Sexy? Not so much. (Image via U.S. News & World Report's 2018 Best Countries Ranking)

Canada ranked 2nd overall, but didn't fare so well in the rankings for every one of the aforementioned qualitative characteristics.

When it comes to "sexy," for instance, Canada got a score of just 0.4 out of 10. Our "fun" factor got an 4.8 out of 10, and for "pleasant climate" Canada got just 1.8 (which actually seems kind of accurate.)

Take this with a grain of salt, though; the report lists only Céline Dion, Sarah McLachlan and Joni Mitchell as examples of influential Canadian performers.

Here are the report's top 20 best countries, overall, based on such factors as adventure, citizenship, cultural influence, heritage, quality of life and power.

1. Switzerland
2. Canada
3. Germany
4. The United Kingdom
5. Japan
6. Sweden
7. Australia
8. The United States
9. France
10. The Netherlands
11. Denmark
12. Norway
13. New Zealand
14. Finland
15. Italy
16.Singapore
17. Austria
18. Luxembourg
19. Spain
20. China