Canada Topped the List of World’s Most Positive Countries for the First Time Ever

·         Canada made it to the top for the first time ever in the 8th year of this award series.

·         The USA could not make it to the main list of positive countries for the first time.

·         Japan made it back to the list of positive countries since 2014. Singapore and New Zealand made it back since 2016.

·         Ethiopia, North and South Korea, Iceland, the USA and Chile are the regional winners.

·         Winning it for the World as a Team, was the main theme observed among all the positive news from 2018.

·         For the first time in last five years, global citizens had positive projection for the world.

Canada was named as the World’s Most Positive Country in 2018 for the first time ever, 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 2018 on the D+ website.

The top 10 World’s Most Positive Countries for 2018 along with respective ranking points are as follows:

Figure: Top 10 World’s Most Positive Countries for 2018

Apart from this overall list of 10 most positive countries, 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. 

Canada was crowned as the World’s Most Positive Country in 2018 for the first time ever in the 8th year of this award series. Canada has been persistent throughout this journey with advanced scientific research, economic development and for standing up for the values that they believe in. Canadian researchers have developed a handheld 3D skin printer that deposits even layers of skin tissue to cover and heal deep wounds. Canadian scientists have developed T-CUP, the world’s fastest camera, capable of capturing ten trillion frames per second. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 was jointly awarded to Donna Strickland of Canada. Dr. Strickland is the third woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics since its creation in 1895, and the first female laureate in 55 years in this discipline. Despite being put under unprecedented pressure by other countries, such as the USA and Saudi Arabia, Canada showed strong courage and came out as the winner at the end. They were able to secure new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) deal and were able to keep the unemployment rate down, at one point the unemployment rate dropped to 4-decade low at 5.8%. Finally, Canada has created the largest area of protected boreal forest in the world in Alberta, an area twice the size of Belgium.

Australia lost its crown from last year to Canada and is in the second position. In 2018, political instability slowed the amazing run that the Australian had for some time. Despite the slow run, Australia was steady. Australian researchers have developed the world’s first blood test capable of detecting melanoma in its early stages, a breakthrough that will save thousands of lives, as well as millions of dollars for the health system. Professor Akshay Venkatesh became the second Australian to be awarded the most prestigious prize in the mathematics world, the Fields Medal. Australia's first electric plane, the Pipistrel Alpha Electro two-seater, successfully completed its maiden flight. Also, Australia gained global admiration by hosting an impressive Commonwealth Games in the beautiful Gold Coast.

Japan had the most impressive climb of all time in the list of most positive countries. The last time Japan was in the list of most positive countries was in 2014. In four years, they turned it around and jumped into the third position in 2018. According to UNICEF, Japan ranked as the world’s safest country for the newborn with lowest newborn mortality rates. Japanese film director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters won Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Japan signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) that covers 600 million people and almost a third of the global economy. Naomi Osaka of Japan defeated Serena Williams to win the 2018 US Open women’s singles tennis title, becoming the first Japanese player to win a major singles title in the history of the sport. Most recently, Japanese passport was ranked as the most powerful in the world.

England climbed up four spots in the list of most positive countries from last year and is in the fourth position. Researchers from the University of Oxford in England have completed the first successful trial of robot-assisted eye surgery. English scientists have discovered three new species of fish, temporarily named the pink, the blue and the purple Atacama Snailfish, in the extreme depths of the Pacific Ocean. English scientists have succeeded for the first time in wiping out an entire population of malaria-carrying mosquitos in the lab. English teacher Andria Zafirakou, from the Alperton Community College of Brent in one of the UK's poorest areas, won the $1 million Global Teacher Prize.

China is in the fifth position in the list of most positive countries for 2018. On our global poll, China was seen as the most focused country with clear aims. China continued to march forward with their BeiDou navigation and positioning system and successfully launched the planned satellites for 2018 required for the system. In a world first, Chinese researchers have successfully cloned macaques using the same technique that yielded the famous clone Dolly the sheep. Chinese researchers have created new ultrafine films—based on nanoparticles that are more than 80 times thinner than a human hair—that could lead to materials that can holographically archive more than 1000 times the data as a DVD. China officially opened the world's longest sea crossing bridge, spanning around 55km and connecting Hong Kong to Macau and the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai, yet another sign of rapid development that China is focusing on both inside and outside of the country.

France moved down one spot to the sixth position in the list of most positive countries compared to last year. Among all the positive achievements of France, the 2018 FIFA world cup win was the most memorable and admirable for the French people. It was France’s second world cup title. Apart from that, in a world first, doctors at the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital in France have performed second face transplant on the same patient. France has been in the forefront of the global environmental campaign. As a result, French President Emmanuel Macron was awarded the 2018 United Nations (UN) Champions of the Earth Award in the Policy Leadership category for his pioneering work on the Global Pact for the Environment.

Singapore came back strong with some upbeat accomplishments to take the seventh spot in the list of most positive countries for 2018 after missing out last year. Scientist in Singapore have become the first in the world to 3D print human skin that match our natural colors and pigmentation. Singapore airlines and the Changi Airport continued to be the very best in the world. Singapore was ranked as the safest country in the world for third consecutive year according to the annual Gallup Global Law and Order report. Singapore topped the World Bank Group's Human Capital Index that quantifies the contribution of health and education to the productivity of the next generation of workers.

Germany made it to the eighth position in the list, two spots down from last year. Some of the notable German initiatives from 2018 are, Germany was elected as a non-permanent member to the United Nations (UN) Security Council to serve during 2019-2020. Germany rolled out the world's first hydrogen-powered train, the Coradia iLint, in northern Germany powered entirely by eco-friendly hydrogen fuel cells. Despite notable opposition against the Refugees in Germany, our global poll participants hailed Germany as the Humanitarian Champion for its leadership in supporting the Refugees. Apart from that Germany remained innovative with global scientific collaborations, such as, a German-English team have found a way to harness sunlight to make fuel by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Denmark clinched a spot in the list of most positive countries for the second consecutive year and is in the ninth position. Denmark topped the ranking at the 2018 United Nations (UN) E-Government Survey, which measures countries’ use of information and communications technologies to deliver public services. Denmark has been supportive to the environmental issues. For instance, wind power generated over 40 percent of electricity consumed in Denmark, a record for the Nordic nation which aims to rely on renewables for half of its energy needs by 2030. Speaking of the year 2030, Denmark has announced plans to phase out diesel and petrol cars, banning the sale of these vehicles from 2030 onwards.

New Zealand took the last spot in the list of 10 most positive countries for 2018. According to one of our external-panel members, “New Zealand seems to keep it to themselves and keeps a low profile, while still making strong statements in various social issues”.  New Zealand did justice to that comment as they ranked as the least corrupt country in the world. New Zealand's parliament passed a law granting paid leave for victims of domestic violence. Apart from that New Zealand scientists have performed the first-ever 3-D, color X-ray on a human, using a technique that promises to improve the field of medical diagnostics.

D+ Most Positive Regional Countries 2018

Africa: Ethiopia

Ethiopia, for the first time ever, made it to the list of most positive regional countries. Ethiopia stood out with their dedication to establish peace and good relationship with their neighbors. Ethiopia signed an agreement with Eritrea to officially end the war between the countries that first broke out in 1998. A 756-km electrified railway connecting landlocked Ethiopia to Djibouti officially started commercial operations. Ethiopian airline made the first commercial flight between Addis Ababa and Mogadishu in Somalia in 41 years, in yet another sign of warming ties between the neighboring nations. Apart from that Ethiopia was in the news for some popular internal policies, such as, Ethiopia's parliament elected Sahle-Work Zewde as the country's first female president and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appointed a cabinet with half the posts taken up by women.

Asia: North and South Korea

North and South Korea were jointly named as the most positive countries from Asia in recognition of the ongoing peace process between the two neighboring countries. North and South Korea committed themselves to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and pledged to bring a formal end to the Korean War. This by far was the most popular and talked-about positive news in 2018 according to the global news coverage and social media attention. Additionally, both the countries shined in sport events, such as, Winter Olympics and Asian Games in 2018.

Europe: Iceland

Iceland took the regional title of Europe. Iceland became the first country in the world to legalize equal pay between men and women in bid to close gender gap. Under the new rule, companies and government agencies with more than 25 employees will face fines if they cannot demonstrate that men and women receive the same salary for the same job. Iceland was ranked as the most peaceful country in the world according to the 2018 Global Peace Index. Icelandic economy was ranked as the second best among the advanced economies by the World Economic Forum.

North America: The United States of America (USA)

The United States of America (USA), for the first time ever, could not make it to the main list of positive countries. This year the USA did not have enough support on our global poll and from our expert panel members. However, the USA was crowned as the regional winner from North America. As expected, the USA retained its leading position in scientific innovation. For example, American biologists have successfully transferred a memory from one marine snail to another, creating an artificial memory. This research could lead to new ways to restore lost memories. The USA also dominated the list of Nobel Prize winners as their researchers won the prize in Medicine, Physics, Chemistry and Economic Science in 2018.

South America: Chile

Chile is back as the regional winner from South America since 2015. Chile made history when it became the first country in Latin America to ban the commercial use of plastic bags. Chile created a new law protecting the waters along its 6,400km (4,000 mile) coastline which creates nine marine reserves. Other notable positive achievements are, Chilean film A Fantastic Woman won the Best Foreign Language Film award at the 90th Academy Awards and Chile was recognized as the Leading Adventure Tourism Destination in Latin America at the 2018 World Travel Awards.

This year 4117 global citizens participated in our global poll with 47% men and 53% women. This is the third 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 50 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 2018, it is observed the World aspired to work as a Team and Won. That was the main theme observed among all the positive news, as Won, World and Team were the three most used words among all the positive stories from 2018. We also looked at the associated words to these three most used words. The association analysis revealed that when the world worked as a team women turned out to be the winner, economy grew and science had international impact.

Figure: Analysis of all the positive news from 2018

The most popular topics of positive accomplishments among both men and women on our global poll, in sequence, were Humanitarian Initiatives, Environment, World Peace, Science & Innovation, Economy, International Relations and Anti-Corruption Initiatives. Women had higher number of votes on each of the mentioned topics, except International Relation. Two new entries to this list of topics in 2018 were Humanitarian Initiatives and Anti-Corruption Initiatives. Further analysis of the comments made on the global poll suggests, the participants reacted positively to the overall Humanitarian Initiatives around the recent refugee crises, wars and natural disasters. Also, a strong voice against corruption was shouted which was often blamed for the most of the political crises in a country.

Figure: Popular topics of positive accomplishments among men and women

For the first time in five years it was observed that the percentage of people hopeful for positive future of the world, primarily the immediate future, climbed in the upward direction. This positive projection was not necessarily because all of our global poll participants believed something magical is taking place around the world but because people believed it is about time for the worse to be over.

Figure: Percentage of people hopeful for positive future

There were so many other positive stories that took place beyond the above winners’ list. India made unprecedented pledge to eliminate all single-use plastic in India by 2022. Various new laws empowering women in Morocco, including a new law criminalizing violence against women, came into effect. Malaysia's cabinet has agreed to abolish the death penalty and halt pending executions.

“In 2018 there were so many positive stories all around us, from Bangladesh's continuous support for world's most prosecuted minority – the Rohingya People of Burma, to denuclearization of Korean peninsula, to Africa standing up for itself with Continental Free Trade Area agreement and many others. These positive stories are not only inspiring but also major steps towards the right direction.” says Dr. Arif Jubaer, Founder of D+.

D+ will present the above information and facts in detail at a presentation ceremony on Saturday, 24 November 2018, 2.00PM in Melbourne, Australia.

For more information on the World’s Most Positive Countries 2018 visit http://www.dailypositive.org/Most_Positive_Countries