Israel Ranks 8th-Most Powerful Nation In The World

For the third year in a row, the US News & World Report annual international survey has found Israel to be the eighth most powerful country on the planet. The ranking was arrived at following responses from 21,000 people in four separate global regions.

The most powerful countries are categorized based on their alliances, global and cultural influence, economy, and entrepreneurship. Unsurprisingly, the United States was ranked as the most powerful nation in the world. It was followed by Russia, China, Germany and the United Kingdom rounding out the top five.

Israel's ranking put it behind European powerhouse and former imperial power, France, and Japan, but ahead of two Middle Eastern rivals, Saudi Arabia, which ranked ninth and the United Arab Emirates, ranked 11th. South Korea was considered the world's 10th most powerful nation.

Iran, Israel's sworn enemy and a nation with hegemonic designs for at least regional domination was placed 13th. Another of Israel's competitors, Turkey, ranked 16th.

"For its relatively small size, [Israel] has played a large role in global affairs. The country has a strong economy, landmarks of significance to several religions and strained relationships with many of its Arab neighbors," the survey noted.

Israel received the highest scores in perceptions of "strong military" and "politically influential," with rankings of 9.9 and 7.8 respectively. It eared the weakest scores in the power attributes of "a leader" and "economically influential," with respondents giving Israel a score of 2.8 for their leader, and 2.9 on economic influence.

Despite holding its position on the power ranking, Israel dipped in the survey's "movers" list, which ranks up-and-coming economies; Israel slipped from 10th to 13th place.

Originally published at Breaking Israel News - reposted with permission.