US tops the list of the world’s most powerful countries
US News published on Tuesday the 2019 Best Countries rankings formed in partnership with BAV Group and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania which are based on a survey that asked more than 20,000 people from four regions to associate 80 countries with specific attributes.
The Power subranking is based on an equally weighted average of scores from five country attributes that related to a country's power: a leader, economically influential, politically influential, strong international alliances and strong military.
According to the survey results the United States, which is perceived to be the most powerful country, has the world’s largest economy and biggest military budget, spending over $610 billion on military hardware and personnel in 2017. Russia and China, the next two countries perceived to be the most powerful, are among the world’s top four military spenders. Following the top three are Germany, the U.K., France and Japan – countries that have large economies and give out high amounts of international aid. Turkey comes the sixteenth in the ranking.