# Best!: Switzerland ranked the world's "best" country as U.S. falls in favor

Make America Swiss Again?

The United States isn't the greatest country in the world, according to a new ranking released by U.S. News & World Report. In fact, it's only the seventh best.

Switzerland made its debut on the publication's best countries list — rising all the way to the No. 1 spot.

The publication polled 21,000 people globally on how they would rank 80 countries based on things such as cultural influence, citizenship and quality of life.

Switzerland — which has four regularly spoken languages — was cited with strong scores in quality of life and having an "inclusive society."

"Switzerland is based on free will rather than on conquest: historically the country always grew because new regions wanted to be part of it," Gabrielle Hogan-Brun, a Swiss-born researcher now living in the United Kingdom, told U.S. News.

A low unemployment rate of 3.7% and safe streets were also factored into the Matterhorn-high ranking. The U.S. News report noted the Swiss also love to vote — casting ballots on 13 referendums across four days last year.

But not everything about life in the country of 8.1 million people is as sweet as (culturally appropriated) Swiss chocolate.

The nationalism wave sweeping the rest of the globe hasn't passed over the typically neutral nation.

U.S. News notes that while almost a quarter of the population is foreign born, anti-immigration sentiment has risen in the country over the last 20 years.

Mariel Diez, an Argentinian journalist who moved to the country, said getting a job when you're not Swiss-born is one tough Alp to climb.

"A lot of my friends who came around the time I did, didn't make it all the way through," Diez told U.S. News. "I sent out 100 resumes before I was even invited for an interview, and that was for an internship."

Canada, the United Kingdom Of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, Germany and Japan round out the top five spots.

And even though the old Stars and Stripes dropped three spots (it was No. 4 last year), the report found the United States was still one of the most powerful countries in the world.

Over 70% of those surveyed said the U.S. lost favor because of the messy 2016 election. (ontinueReading

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