Good Country Index : Kenya officially top in Africa in pursuing best interests of humanity

Kenya named best African nation which has contributed most to humanity and the planet, at 26th place globally. She is the only country on the continent to break into the top 30, according to a new survey.

Among the factors that boosted Kenya’s rank are: deploying peace-keeping troops at the horn of Africa, hosting asylum seekers, voluntary donations to World Health Organisation(WHO), Cyber security, contributions to international publications in science and technology, the number of UN volunteers abroad and charity.

Researchers describe Kenya as an inspiring example which showed that making a meaningful contribution to society, is by no means the exclusive duty of 'first-world' nations.

Ireland emerged as the best country in the world with the greatest contributions to humanity and the planet.

UK came in seventh overall, thanks to her booming tech industry. She topped the list as the best contributior to science and technology, globally.

US scooped 21st position, a drop down in rank attributed to poor scores on international peace and security.

Besides Western Europe and the English-speaking world, Costa Rica ranked the highest, at 22nd place, while Chile took 24th place.

Meanwhile, war-torn Iraq, Libya and Vietnam ranked joint bottom of the survey.

Prominent policy adviser Simon Anholt, who designed the survey, hopes it will change the way countries do business by encouraging them to think about the global impact of their actions, rather than self-interests.

He said: “The idea of the Good Country Index is pretty simple; to measure what each country on earth contributes to the common good of humanity and what it takes away.”

Anholt added that the  survey was not to “name and shame” or make moral judgements about countries, but rather to recognise the importance of contributing to the greater good in a globalised society.

The results were revealed as part of the first ever Good Country Index, which ranks countries by combining 35 separate indicators from the United Nations, the World Bank and other international institutions.