Israel and Ukraine in the Best Countries Index 2026: strength during war and failure of international perception

Israel ranked 50th, Ukraine 82nd among 85 countries in the Best Countries Index 2026. Both countries received relatively high positions in the power category but were significantly lower in assessments of quality of life, openness for business, and international appeal.

Israel and Ukraine are among the countries whose positions in the Best Countries Index 2026 are most strongly determined by war, security, and international politics.

In the overall ranking, Israel was in 50th place out of 85, Ukraine in 82nd. At the same time, Israel took 11th place in power, and Ukraine 18th. This creates an unusual picture: the countries are perceived as notable participants in world politics, but this influence hardly translates into an attractive image for living, business, or travel.

Ukraine’s result in the Quality of Life category was particularly resonant. It took the last, 85th place. Israel in the same category was in 63rd position.

However, calling this proof that Ukraine is the ‘worst country in the world to live in’ is incorrect. The Best Countries Index primarily measures not objective conditions, but how countries are perceived by people outside their borders.

Israel and Ukraine: main positions in the ranking

The figures show that Israel and Ukraine have an important common feature: their international weight is perceived significantly higher than their everyday appeal.

Israel is among the top fifteen countries in the world in terms of power, but almost at the end of the list in terms of openness for business and tourist appeal. Ukraine also found itself among the twenty most influential in the power dimension, while simultaneously taking the last place in quality of life.

Israel: 11th place in power, but only 50th in the overall ranking

The report’s authors call Israel the most developed economy in the Middle East and emphasize its exceptional innovative potential.

Israeli achievements in software, cybersecurity, biotechnology, medical equipment, and high-tech manufacturing are specifically mentioned. The report notes that a country with a population of about 9.9 million exerts influence far exceeding its size.

This explains Israel’s 11th place in the Power category and a relatively high 27th place in entrepreneurship.

Defense spending, military technology, intelligence capabilities, strategic partnership with the USA, and Israel’s role in regional politics form the image of a state capable of influencing processes far beyond its own territory.

But the flip side of this image is constant war.

Ongoing regional conflicts, diplomatic crises, and international disputes over the Palestinian issue, according to the report’s authors, complicate Israel’s relations with some markets and potential investors. The authors directly link the country’s long-term economic development with regional stabilization and maintaining investments in innovation and human capital.

For Israel, the most alarming is not the overall 50th place, but the combination of several indicators:

63rd place in quality of life;

83rd place in openness for business;

83rd place in tourist and adventure appeal;

62nd place in social purpose.

These figures do not mean that Israel objectively lacks entrepreneurial freedom or that the country is uninteresting to tourists. Rather, they reflect the impact of war, high cost of living, political instability, and constant reports of security threats on the international image of the state.

NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency draws attention to the main contradiction of Israel’s result: the country maintains a reputation as a technological and military power but loses appeal as a calm, predictable, and convenient place for living and investment.

Ukraine: last place in quality of life, but 18th in power

Ukraine’s overall result is significantly lower — 82nd place out of 85.

Only a few countries experiencing severe political, economic, or humanitarian crises were below it in the final table. At the same time, Ukraine received 18th place in the power category, ahead of dozens of richer and more stable countries.

This result is not only related to the size of the army or the number of weapons. In the Best Countries Index, the power category includes international influence, political significance, military capabilities, and the country’s participation in global processes.

After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine became one of the central issues of global security. The situation on the Ukrainian front affects the defense strategies of the European Union, NATO policy, sanctions against Russia, the international arms market, and the future arrangement of European security.

The report names Ukraine as a strategically important country with significant agricultural resources, minerals, and technological potential. Grain exports, the IT sector, industry, and Ukraine’s importance for global food supply chains are specifically noted.

At the same time, the authors’ formulation that Ukraine is supposedly a ‘buffer between the European Union and Russia’ seems controversial and reproduces an outdated view in which an independent European state is described not as an independent entity but as a territory between larger centers of power.

Ukraine strives for EU and NATO membership, is fighting for its own statehood, and is part of the European political system, not a neutral border zone between the West and Russia.

Why Ukraine ended up last in quality of life

Ukraine received a zero relative score and 85th place in the quality of life category.

But zero here does not mean a complete absence of quality of life. The methodology is built differently: the country with the best result in each category receives 100 points, and the scores of others are recalculated relative to the leader. The last place can receive a value of 0.0 after standardization and scaling of results.

The quality of life category includes the perception of characteristics such as:

availability and quality of healthcare;

education;

safety;

political and economic stability;

labor market;

development of public services;

conditions for families;

level of material well-being.

In the conditions of full-scale war, Ukraine objectively faces the destruction of infrastructure, the displacement of millions of people, the threat of missile and drone strikes, economic contraction, and dependence on external financing.

But the rating captures not only these real circumstances. It also reflects the image of Ukraine formed in the global information space.

For many foreign respondents, Ukraine in recent years is primarily images of destroyed cities, air raid sirens, the front, refugees, and humanitarian aid. Achievements of Ukrainian business, the digital state, culture, education, and the technology sector receive significantly less international attention.

That is why Ukraine’s last place should be considered not only as an assessment of wartime conditions but also as a result of a serious national brand crisis.

Why the rating cannot be considered an objective measure of the standard of living

The Best Countries Index 2026 was prepared by the company WPP, using the BAV analytical system, in collaboration with Wharton School professor David Reibstein.

From December 15, 2025, to February 24, 2026, the authors surveyed 15,131 people from 33 countries. Among them were 2,926 executives and business owners and 12,205 members of the general public. All responses had equal weight.

Participants were shown randomly selected countries and characteristics. They had to indicate whether a specific state is associated with concepts such as safety, innovation, cultural influence, economic stability, or openness for business.

Each respondent evaluated not all 85 countries, but approximately a third of the list and about half of the characteristics. If a person reported never having heard of a state, it was excluded from their part of the survey.

In total, researchers used 73 characteristics, grouped into ten categories:

Adventure;

Agility;

Cultural Influence;

Entrepreneurship;

Heritage;

Movers;

Open for Business;

Power;

Quality of Life;

Social Purpose.

The overall result was calculated as a weighted sum of indicators. The weight of categories was linked to the level of GDP per capita by purchasing power parity.

Therefore, the Best Countries Index is more of a ranking of countries’ international reputation rather than a statistical ranking of actual quality of life.

It does not replace data on income, housing costs, healthcare availability, life expectancy, crime, or education level. But it shows something else: how willing people in the world are to trust the country, invest in it, move there, buy its goods, and perceive it as successful.

Israel and Ukraine have become strong but unattractive countries of war.

The results of Israel and Ukraine differ in scale but demonstrate a similar problem.

Both countries have significant human capital, technological capabilities, strong diasporas, and strategic importance. Both are at the center of international politics and are perceived as states capable of resisting serious external threats.

However, strength alone does not create an attractive national brand.

Israel ranked 11th in strength, but only 63rd in quality of life and 83rd in openness for business.

Ukraine ranked 18th in strength, but 85th in quality of life, 81st in openness for business, and 83rd in future growth dynamics.

This is one of the main conclusions of the Best Countries Index 2026: a prolonged war gradually turns states into symbols of resistance and military power, while simultaneously destroying their image as places for normal life, tourism, investment, and long-term planning.

For Ukraine, changing this situation is impossible without ending Russian aggression, restoring infrastructure, European integration, and extensive work on the international representation of the country.

For Israel, the key conditions remain restoring security, political stability, improving relations with democratic allies, and restoring the image of a country where technology, entrepreneurship, and quality of life are more important than constant war.