- Australia returned to the top spot for the first time since 2011.
- There are four changes in the overall list of positive countries in 2017 compared to last year. Denmark and the Netherlands made it to the list for the first time ever.
- France and England are back to the list of positive countries since 2014 and 2015 respectively. Nigeria, Bangladesh, Norway, Cuba and Colombia are the regional winners.
- Analysis of all the positive news from 2017 suggests that the newsmakers worked with passion to create a positive impact in the world.
- Global citizens continued to be less hopeful for the immediate positive future of the world.
Australia
crowned the World’s Most Positive Country for 2017, for the second time ever in
half a decade, according to the annual global index published by Daily Positive
(D+), a unique online media organization from Australia
for positive news.
The
annual list of top ten most positive countries is compiled based on a
positivity index comprised of a global expert panel rating, a D+ journalists
rating, a global web poll and the number of positive news entries in 2017 on
the D+ website.
The
top 10 World’s Most Positive Countries for 2017 along with respective ranking
points are as follows:
Country Name
|
Total Points
|
Australia
|
501
|
Canada
|
489
|
Switzerland
|
480
|
China
|
472
|
France
|
461
|
Germany
|
454
|
Denmark
|
442
|
England
|
434
|
Netherlands
|
428
|
United States of America
|
418
|
Apart
from this overall list of 10 most positive countries, for the third time, D+
also published a list of regional positive countries from Africa, Asia, Europe,
North America and South America. The regional winners were selected based on
the same criteria used to select the overall winners but from a specific region
outside of the top ten in the list.
Australia topped the list of most positive countries in 2017 and it
took them half-a-decade to reclaim the top spot. Gradual development and
patient build up over the past few years helped Australia return to the top. Australian
medical research continued to explore new ideas with worldwide impact. Other
research areas have also been impressive, for example, Australian archaeologists
have confirmed that Aboriginal people have been in Australia for at least
65,000 years – much longer than the 47,000 years thought previously. First
Australian-built satellite CubeSat was launched in 15 years. Women’s sports was
flying high, including Australian women’s football team winning the inaugural
Tournament of Nations defeating Brazil. Our global survey suggests Australia
was seen as a positive role model especially against the changing political
situation in North America.
Canada jumped into the second spot in 2017 from last year’s fifth
position. Canadian universities were impressive with their researches. Canadian
researchers at the University of Waterloo have captured the first composite
image of a dark matter bridge that connects galaxies together. Canadian scientists
from the Royal Ontario Museum have identified and named a new species of
armoured dinosaur, Zuul crurivastator. Like Australia, Canada has also emerged
as new positive voice against global political instability. In line with that
positive vibe, Canadian school teacher Maggie MacDonnell won the annual Global
Teacher Prize for encouraging hope and acts of kindness in a remote Arctic
village called Salluit in Quebec.
After
two years at the top of the list of most positive countries, Switzerland moved down to third in the ranking
in 2017. “While maintaining stability, prosperity and livability internally,
and hosting a range of international organizations, Switzerland continued to be
exemplary”, says one of our expert panel members. Swiss tennis master Roger
Federer’s incredible reemergence with Australian Open and Wimbledon Grand Slams
was one of the most inspirational sporting stories of 2017. The Charles Kuonen
Suspension Bridge, the world's longest suspension footbridge - measuring over
1600 feet in length and rising as high as 279 feet, was opened in the country as
part of continuous development. Swiss scientists have succeeded in deciphering
the entire visual network in the brain of a fly that is expected to support
brain research. Finally, Switzerland retained its rank
as the world’s most competitive economy for the ninth consecutive year.
Like
Switzerland, China also shifted down
two positions in the list of positive countries in 2017. Despite the shift,
China through the Belt and Road initiative, has been stimulating a range of
infrastructure development projects throughout the world and strongly emerged
as leader in world affairs. China not only changed the stigma of world’s worst
polluter but also established itself as the renewable energy champion. China
topped the world in renewable energy production, connected the world’s largest
floating solar PV power plant to the grid and topped the Renewable Energy
Country Attractiveness Index in 2017. Among other positive initiatives, Chinese
researchers teleported the first ever object, a photon, from the earth to a
satellite orbiting more than 500 kilometers above.
France made it back to the list of most positive
countries after two years and secured the fifth spot in 2017. France was highly
praised in our global poll for its resilient and courageous stand amid all the
recent terrorist attacks on French soil and to let that attitude to shine by
electing a fresh government. Apart from that, France banned the breeding of
killer whales and dolphins in captivity, French model Iris Mittenaere was
crowned as the 65th Miss Universe and because of the revolutionary research
work by French scientists a man in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) for the
past 15 years has shown signs of consciousness after pioneering nerve
stimulation treatment.
Germany moved up two positions in the list in 2017 compared to
last year. German economy remained solid
and as a result, the unemployment rate has been downhill in 2017. German scientists continued to innovate and
impress. The world's biggest solar simulator Synlight was switched on in
Germany, dubbed as "the world's largest artificial sun", intended to
develop production processes for solar fuels, including hydrogen. German
scientists have recently, for the first time, extracted full nuclear genome
data from ancient Egyptian mummies.
Denmark made it to the list of most positive countries for the
first time ever and reached at the seventh position. In 2017, Denmark ranked as
the least corrupt nation in the world. Danish press has
enjoyed one of the greatest freedoms in the world. Researchers from Denmark for
the very first time revealed that antibiotic resistance genes originate from
the same place as the antibiotic compounds, i.e. from a group of soil bacteria
called Actinobacteria. Lastly, Viktor Axelsen claimed
Denmark's first men's singles gold in 20 years at the Badminton World
Championships.
After
missing out last year, England made it back to the list of positive countries
in 2017. England is at the eighth position in the list experienced greater
success in global university rankings. That
translated into many distinguished awards and researches e.g. English
researchers won the prestigious Brain Prize 2017 for explaining how learning is
associated with the reward system of the brain. English scientists have
discovered a new shrimp species Synalpheus pinkfloydi off the coast of Panama. In
sports, English cyclist Chris Froome won his fourth Tour de France title
representing Team Sky.
The Netherlands is another newcomer to the
list of positive countries for 2017 and is at the ninth position. In our global
poll the Netherlands was hailed for good governance, innovation and quality of
life. All Dutch trains are now 100 percent powered by electricity generated by
wind energy, according to the national railway company NS, calling it a world first.
More on the same note of environmental innovation, they officially opened the Gemini
Windpark, a 600 megawatt (MW) offshore wind farm off the coast of the
Netherlands. Dutch team claimed their seventh title in the Challenger class at
the 2017 World Solar Challenge, a biennial solar-powered car race. Finally, the
Netherlands women claimed maiden European soccer title by beating Denmark 4-2
in the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 championship.
The United States of America (USA) slipped
down to the last position in the list of top 10 most positive countries in
2017. Almost predictably the USA
continued to dazzle the world with its innovations. American space transport
services company SpaceX launched its first recycled cargo ship to the
International Space Station, yet another milestone in its bid to drive down
flight costs. American scientists have developed an artificial womb that can
sustain premature lambs, and such technology could soon be useful to save
prematurely born human babies. American scholars won the Nobel prizes in
Medicine, Physics, Chemistry and Economics.
D+ Most Positive Regional Countries 2017
Africa: Nigeria
Nigeria is back as the regional winner of
Africa after missing out last year. Nigerians have excelled with glittering
awards, such as, the Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize for Engineering
Innovation, World Food Prize and BBC World News Komla Dumor Award. The Nigerian
robotics team won a gold medal at the FIRST Global robotics competition in
Washington DC. Nigeria did not ever give up on the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls
and continued to make progress and rescued significant number of the girls in
2017.
Asia: Bangladesh
There were simply no
other choice but Bangladesh for this
year’s Asian regional winner. It is mainly because, along with many positive
achievements, in 2017 Bangladesh dealt with the world’s fastest growing refugee
crisis with open arms and saved the world from a huge catastrophe. Huge credit
goes to the current Bangladeshi government and Bangladeshis from across the
country who raced to save Rohingya refugees fleeing the brutal ethnic cleansing
operation of Burmese military. Bangladesh became exemplary for the regional
powers and many developed nations with its humane response to deal with well
over half-a-million refugees that arrived in the country in few weeks. Apart
from that, Bangladesh inaugurated its first solar-powered Food Warehouse with a
capacity of 25,000 tonnes of grain. Bangladesh launched its first ever nano-satellite
Brac Onnesha. Bangladeshi surgeons successfully separated two 9-month-old
sisters born pygopagus in a complex operation.
Europe: Norway
Norway is the regional
winner from Europe. Norway topped the World Democracy Index indicating that it
has a near-perfect fully functional democracy. That helped Norway to achieve best
press freedom in the world. As part of continuous economic development, Norwegian
solar panel maker Saga Energy recently signed a deal worth 2.5 billion euros
($2.9 billion) with Iran's state-owned company Amin Energy Developers to build
solar power plants in Iran.
North America: Cuba
Cuba retained its regional title for the third
consecutive year. After job well done by the Cuban medical professionals in West
Africa to fight Ebola since 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognized
their efforts in 2017. Cuba continued its positive attempt to integrate and
engage further with the international communities. As a result, first ever
cooperation agreement between the European Union and Cuba was approved in order
to expand bilateral trade, promote dialogue and provide joint action on the
world scene.
South America: Colombia
Colombia became the regional winner from
South America for the second consecutive year. Colombia continued to build on
the peace process that started for last few years in order to neutralize the
local armed groups. Also, Colombian singer Shakira received the 2017 Crystal
Award for her efforts to help displaced and disadvantaged children in Colombia.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was named as one of the most influential
people by Time Magazine for his determination to establish peace. Natalia Ponce
de Leon of Colombia, a human right activist and acid attack victim, was honored
with the United States Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage
Award 2017.
This year 3928 global
citizens participated in our global poll with 49% men and 51% women. This is
the second consecutive year we had more women participants than men. The global
poll was successful in attracting approximately uniform amount of votes from
all the regions of the world. The age distribution of the participants suggests,
people aged between 30 to 60 were the most vocal in our poll.
Figure:
Global poll participants in graphs
Based on our text
analysis of all the positive news published on D+ in 2017, it is observed that
“World” is the most prominent word appeared repeatedly in the news. Further
analysis suggests it is because all the newsmakers worked in their respective
fields to have a positive impact in the world. Furthermore, scientists and
researchers have been spreading their amazing discoveries through international
journals. Women empowerment and development have been at the forefront of key
initiatives around the world. Winning major awards and securing top positions
in world rankings have been the trend in 2017.
Figure:
“WORLD” is the most prominent word among all the positive news from 2017
The most popular topics
of positive accomplishments among both men and women on our global poll, in
sequence, were World Peace, Economy, Environment, Science and Innovation,
Education, International Relations and Sports, among others. While women were
more concern about Environment, Science and Education, men were interested in
topics, such as, Economy and Sports. However, activities around World Peace obtained
the most combined attention from both men and women.
Figure:
Popular topics of positive accomplishments among men and women
D+ continued to observe
the trend of the percentage of people hopeful for positive future, primarily the
immediate future, based on the comments made during its global polls since
2011. It is observed that since 2013 people’s positive outlook continued to
decline. Volatile geopolitical situations, terrorism, natural disasters and
violence resulting in mass refugees were identified as the main causes for such
decline in outlook in 2017.
Other nations outside of
the list of most positive countries also made 2017 a memorable one. Iceland topped the list of the world’s
most peaceful country. Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon abolished a law that allowed rapists to avoid prosecution
by marrying their victims. Saudi Arabia's
King Salman issued a decree allowing women to drive for the first time in the
Kingdom. India created history by
successfully launching 104 satellites on a single mission, overtaking the
previous record of 37 satellites launched by Russia in 2014. Portugal won the Eurovision Song
Contest for the first time since it first entered the contest in 1964.
“On the occasion of D+
world’s most positive countries 2017, it was great to see people from all
around the world coming together and working for a positive world despite all
the negativities surround them. For the positive newsmakers, 2017 was not about
their individual dreams, rather it was about the dreams for a positive world.” says Dr. Arif Jubaer, Founder of D+.
D+ will present the above information and facts in detail at a presentation
ceremony on Saturday, 25 November 2017, 2.00PM in Melbourne, Australia.
For more information on the World’s Most Positive Countries 2017
visit http://www.dailypositive.org/Most_Positive_Countries
