World's most powerful countries revealed

US News and World Report released its latest edition of 'Best Countries' study where they evaluated 80 countries on a wide range of criteria including citizenship, quality of life and cultural history.

Another major marker was 'power', which measured how economically and politically influential a country is.

The world's most popular countries

More than 21,000 business leaders, general citizens and informed elites were surveyed to discover how nations are perceived on a global scale.

The organisation has made clear that the "most powerful countries may not necessarily be the most well-liked, but they are the nations that consistently dominate news headlines, preoccupy policymakers and shape economic forecasts."

The US was perceived as the most powerful, followed closely by Russia and China. Other countries included Pakistan, Turkey, and Israel.

These are the top 23 'most powerful' countries in the world:

23. Qatar



22. Spain



21. Netherlands



20. Pakistan



19. Sweden



18. Italy



17. Australia



16. India



15. Switzerland



14. Iran




13. Turkey



12. Canada



11. South Korea



10. United Arab Emirates



9. Saudi Arabia



8. Israel



7. Japan



6. France



5. Germany



4. United Kingdom



3. China



2. Russia



1. United States of America