Ireland has ranked first in the world in the inaugural “Good Country” index which measures how much each country on earth contributes to the planet and the human race.

As part of the survey, Ireland was ranked against its peers in terms of education, science, war and peace, trade and culture, health and censorship amongst others.

The findings are part of a worldwide assessment undertaken by Simon Anholt, an independent policy advisor who helps national, regional and city governments develop and implement strategies for enhanced economic, political and cultural engagement with other countries.  The full survey is available at http://goodcountry.org/

For the size of the Irish economy, Ireland’s combined global contributions to science and technology, culture, international peace and security outranked all other 124 countries included in the rankings.