This isn’t fair. You’re blaming entire countries for something their government is responsible for, and rewarding governments for things their population have done without state help.

The Good Country Index doesn’t attempt to distinguish between different actors in each country, which in many cases would be impossible anyway. We treat each country as a whole and simply measure what, as a whole and considering the size of its economy, its impact is on the world. Others are welcome to debate how the praise or blame should be apportioned to government, civil society, individuals or companies.