Ghana Features in 10 Best Countries in Africa, Beats Longtime Rival and Other Heavyweights

• The U.S. News & World Report 2026 Best Countries rankings prioritise quality of life over economic size or military strength
• African nations showcased on the list were noted for their unique economic strengths, cultural influences, and infrastructure development
• Countries like Seychelles and Morocco rank among the top for tourism-driven economies and strategic importance

The 2026 Best Countries ranking by U.S. News & World Report has Ghana among the bottom 10 countries in its ranking.

The ranking evaluates 100 nations across a comprehensive array of metrics.

The methodology examines eight categories of national performance, including economic output, civic engagement, infrastructure, environmental stewardship and healthcare.

From island destinations powered by luxury tourism to countries driven by oil, technology, mining, and manufacturing, these nations are shaping Africa’s economic story in different ways. While many still face challenges like unemployment, inflation, or inequality, they continue to rank among the world’s best countries for their economic potential, cultural influence, infrastructure, and strategic importance.

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Here are the African countries that made the global list:

1. Seychelles (49th globally)
2. Morocco (74th globally)
3. Tunisia (77th globally)
4. Egypt ((80th globally)
5. South Africa (81st globally)
6. Algeria (87th globally)
7. Ghana (90th globally)
8. Kenya (92nd globally)
9. Zimbabwe (97th globally)
10. Nigeria (98th globally)

Benchmarks for selecting countries to rank

To qualify for the ranking, one had to meet four benchmark criteria to be included in the study.

The countries needed to be top 125 in gross domestic product, top 125 in foreign direct investment, top 125 in international tourism, top 125 in Human Development Index and a data coverage of 80%, meaning a country had data from at least that portion of the datasets.

This quantitative screen yielded 91 countries, with nine additional countries above the 80% data coverage threshold, factoring in global influence and regional representation.

Ghana was among these countries, including Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Kenya, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar and Zimbabwe.

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What the ranking said about Ghana

Most of Ghana's rankings in the eight main categories were below 65.

Ghana ranked 46th for civic engagement, 71st for culture and tourism, 98th for economic development, 76th for governance, 91st for health, 90th for infrastructure, 67th fr natural environment, and 91st for opportunity.

The full criterion is explained here.

Ghana ranks 125th in happiness list

Ghana has chalked an unenviable position in the 2025 World Happiness Report.

This comes after Ghana ranked 125th out of 147 countries in the 2025 edition of the report released in March.

The report which has been published since 2012 focuses on how happy people living in various countries across the world are.

The factors used in this ranking take into consideration Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices and generosity, as well as perceptions of corruption.

UCC, UG among best African universities

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Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that the top three universities in Ghana made the list of the top-ranked universities in Africa.

The University of Cape Coast ranked 29th in Africa, right above the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, which ranked 30th. The University of Ghana was ranked 33rd.

The US News and World Report Global Universities Rankings covered 2,250 universities.

Source: YEN.com.gh