U.S. Beats Russia in ‘Most Powerful’ Ranking

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 22, 2016)

Russia is second only to its former Cold War foe the United States in terms of its power to influence the global agenda but lags behind many other countries in most categories, a new ranking presented at the Davos World Economic Forum said.

Moscow scored a 9.4 in the “Power” category, which the company described as the ability to “project influence on the world stage.” The ranking – carried out by U.S. News & World Report, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and global brand consultants BAV Consulting – judged countries’ power according to their leader, economic influence, political influence, and international and military alliances, the results published online showed.

The U.S. was ranked the most powerful country in the world, scoring a perfect 10. China came in third, with 8.7 points.

Russia did less well in all other categories. The country ranked tenth in the “Economy” category and 60th in the “Open to Business” category.

A “Best Countries” ranking – which judged countries’ overall performance across all metrics – placed Russia 24th, behind Brazil and India. Germany came in first place.

The ranking, which was presented at the Davos conference in Switzerland on Wednesday, compares 60 countries across 24 categories, using data from a survey of more than 16,000 people.