Switzerland tops the US News & World Report' list of the best countries, a ranking that looks into a variety of factors for assessing 80 countries throughout the globe.

The 2017 Best Countries report and 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. Eighty nations – up from 60 in the inaugural rankings – were measured in the report.

Switzerland is closely followed by Canada and the United Kingdom, while Algeria, Iran and Serbia close the list.

Also, Russia took the 27th spot, Turkey was in the 36th, followed by Latvia in the 60th, and Azerbaijan and Belarus in the 69th and 70th, respectively.

Armenia wasn't included in the ranking.

A set of 65 country attributes – terms that can be used to describe a country and that are also relevant to the success of a modern nation – were identified. Attributes by nation were presented in a survey of more than 21,000 people from across the globe. Participants assessed how closely they associated an attribute with a nation.

Attributes were grouped into nine subrankings that rolled into the Best Countries ranking: Adventure, Citizenship, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power and Quality of Life.