The strength of a country’s social safety net is often viewed as a telling indicator of quality of life.
Nordic nations like Sweden and Norway – countries perceived to be great for raising children – each spend more than 1% of their total gross domestic product on early childhood education and care, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The U.S., in contrast, spends less than 0.5% of GDP on early childhood care and education.
[ SEE MORE: The 25 Best Countries in the World ]
A companion to the overall 2023 Best Countries rankings from U.S. News, the 2023 Best Countries for Raising Kids rankings are drawn from a global survey of more than 17,000 people. The rankings are based on how respondents perceived countries in relation to eight specific attributes: cares about human rights, family-friendly, gender equality, happy, income equality, safe, and having well-developed public education and public health systems.
These are the top five countries for raising kids, based on the perceptions of those surveyed.