Ireland is the "Goodest" country in the world

So what is this ranking about? According to the creators of the index, "The Good Country Index tries to measure how much each country on earth contributes to the planet and to the human race."

The Good Index website clarifies, "Try thinking of “good” as a measure of how much a country contributes to the common good. So in this context “good” means the opposite of “selfish”, not the opposite of “bad”. The Good Country Index isn’t trying to make any moral judgments: it just measures, as objectively as possible, what each country contributes to the common good, and what it takes away."

The index has been created by ranking countries based on 35 different databases which have been put together by the United Nations and NGOs. The Good Country Index measures the international impact of countries and has been built by Dr Robert Govers with support from several other organisations, and funded by Simon Anholt.

Tourism Ireland is promoting Ireland's ranking in this Index as a means of encouraging tourism to Ireland.