People stroll along Marunouchi Naka-dori Street in Tokyo.
People gather in downtown Tokyo.
The 2026 Best Countries rankings from U.S. News & World Report evaluate 100 nations across a comprehensive array of metrics. The Best Countries project is designed to help citizens, business leaders and policymakers understand how each country is serving its citizens.
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Displayed in alphabetical order, here are scenes from the 100 countries that ranked highest.
Voters watch the results of US 2024 presidential election being broadcast on a giant screen in Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, New York. The US presidential election pitting Democratic candidate Kamala Harris against Republican candidate Donald Trump in New York, a liberal state that has voted for the Democratic candidate in presidential elections since 1988, voters follow the results as they come in all night long. (Photo by Apolline Guillerot-Malick / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
TOPSHOT - A man sits outside his destroyed building after bombings on the eastern Ukraine town of Chuguiv on February 24, 2022, as Russian armed forces are trying to invade Ukraine from several directions, using rocket systems and helicopters to attack Ukrainian position in the south, the border guard service said. - Russia's ground forces today crossed into Ukraine from several directions, Ukraine's border guard service said, hours after President Vladimir Putin announced the launch of a major offensive. Russian tanks and other heavy equipment crossed the frontier in several northern regions, as well as from the Kremlin-annexed peninsula of Crimea in the south, the agency said. (Photo by Aris Messinis / AFP) (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Employees and volunteers help pack and sort humanitarian aid donations to be shipped to Ukraine at Meest-America, Inc warehouse in Port Reading, New Jersey, on March 8, 2022. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
TOPSHOT - Black smoke rises from a military airport in Chuguyev near Kharkiv on February 24, 2022. - Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine today with explosions heard soon after across the country and its foreign minister warning a "full-scale invasion" was underway. (Photo by Aris Messinis / AFP) (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)