Canadian nationality ranked better than most but behind many 

TheGlobeAndMail.com
June 6, 2016
Michael Babad

Where Canada stands

A new study that measures the “quality of nationalities” ranks Canada behind many, but better than most.

The rankings by Henley & Partners and constitutional law professor Dimitry Kochenov puts Canada at No. 32, near the bottom of the group of nations deemed “very high quality.”

The index by the firm and the Dutch professor doesn’t rank nationality by what it means in terms of pride, history and the like, but rather by what it’s worth, or what it can get you in terms of citizenship.

Among other things, it can help businesses and entrepreneurs determine where to operate.

Created by Mr. Kochenov of the University of Groningen and Henley chairman Christian Kalin, it ranks by internal and external “values” that include gross domestic product, the United Nations Human Development Index, the Global Peace Index and the freedom to travel and live elsewhere.

The latter are “external factors (including visa-free travel and the ability to settle and work abroad without cumbersome formalities) that make one nationality better than another in terms of legal status in which to develop your talents and business,” the group said.

Which, of course, favour a bloc like the European Union, as this interactive graphic by The Globe and Mail’s Murat Yukselir, from information supplied by the citizenship consulting firm, shows.

“The nationalities of the U.S. and Canada benefit primarily from very strong internal value and spectacular visa-free travel, but lie in the lower ranks of the very high quality nationalities along with countries like Japan, Singapore and South Korea which cannot compete with the superb settlement freedom of EU nationalities, but perform well in all other aspects.”

The top 10 nations of the 161 measured include Germany, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Austria and Ireland tied for sixth place, France, Switzerland, Netherlands and Belgium.