London, United Kingdom, April 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Denmark, Switzerland and Finland took the top three spots in the 2023 World Citizenship Report, which launched today. The World Citizenship Report ranks 188 countries across five key motivators defining citizenship for the global citizen.
Published by CS Global Partners, the world's leading government and investment migration advisory firm, the World Citizenship Report showcases the World Citizenship Index (WCI), an innovative tool that takes a holistic approach to rank the world’s citizenships across multiple dimensions including the motivators of Safety and Security, Quality of Life, Economic Opportunity, Global Mobility and Financial Freedom.
The World Citizenship Index is the product of a research-driven approach that goes beyond ordinary concepts of passport strength by placing greater emphasis on the diverse attitudes regarding key facets of citizenship. Unlike other rating tools, the World Citizenship Index ranking is designed to reflect a citizenship’s value through the lens of high-net-worth-individuals (HNWIs) and the newest generation of global citizens: the mass affluent population.
“This year, we looked beyond HNWIs and extended our survey to the new mass affluent, a globally mobile generation who is providing fresh impetus for a renewed drive towards global citizenship. As the world around continues to change at an exponential rate, bringing with it new crises and opportunities – individuals across the globe are increasingly calling their own citizenships into question in terms of the safety, freedoms, and the prosperity they provide,” said Micha Emmett, CEO of CS Global Partners.
“This Report stands apart from other reports in the industry because it examines which countries offer the most benefits for global citizens, particularly in a post-COVID world where those that have the means are consistently searching for greater opportunities."
This year, Denmark kicked Switzerland out of the top spot and scored the highest points. Switzerland ranked in second place and Finland retained the third spot for a second year in a row.
Notably, global superpowers such as the United States and China did not rank in the top ten, symbolising a significant shift in what these economic giants can tangibly offer the global elite. HNWIs and mass affluent citizens are searching for a better quality of life, security and financial freedoms, all aspects which have been on shaky ground since the pandemic.
The surveyed cohort chose ‘Quality of Life’ as the most important feature of citizenship, which ranked first across the World Citizenship Index’s five pillars, eclipsing both Physical Safety and Financial Freedom.
The Report found that a competitive economy, public services, and environmental sustainability are the three areas mass affluent individuals feel most let down by their governments.
We are unfortunately living through a period where the standard of living is falling at the fastest rate in over a generation. At the end of 2022, the UK Office for Budget Responsibility reported that UK households are set to suffer a 7.1 per cent fall in living standards over the next two years, the largest decline in six decades. Furthermore, according to the latest United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report published in the same period, living conditions in 90 per cent of the world’s countries deteriorated in 2021 – something that hasn’t been seen since the height of the previous global recession caused by the financial crisis in 2007. Moreover, the UNDP report marked the first consecutive year of decline in the 32-year history of the Human Development Index (HDI) – these trends are reflected in the current World Citizenship Index scores. For example, the United States dropped to 29th position for the Quality-of-Life motivator from 20th position previously, which shows how living standards are coming under pressure even in the world’s economic powerhouses.
"The World Citizenship Report aims to capture what truly concerns and affects a global citizen," added Emmet. "When there are options to gain a second or third citizenship, the first question in a HNWIs mind is 'where is the next place to be associated with?'"
"High-net-worth individuals and the mass affluent must consider a myriad of factors when deciding something as monumental as where to obtain second citizenship and build a second home. While passport strength is, of course, an important component, it is also one that is subject to the greatest change as evidenced by pandemic related travel restrictions," she added.
As many parts of the globe recover from COVID-19 and find means to bolster their economies, a new chain of threats has emerged. The conflict in the Ukraine has not only made many nations in the northern hemisphere realise just how fragile the concept of safety and freedom is but has severely impacted energy and food security across the world.
With so much change happening so rapidly around us, it can be challenging to keep up with how all these disparate factors coming to bear on the prevailing attitudes toward global citizenship. And this is where the value of the World Citizenship Report comes into the picture. The Report continues to build on its reputation as an ambitious product reflecting the evolving nature of these attitudes toward citizenship, and one that is in tune with the defining issues of our time with respect to global citizens, including health and wellbeing, environmental sustainability, and shifting investment priorities.
The World Citizenship Index’s unique methodology relies on the experience gained through CS Global Partners unparalleled work in the citizenship solutions industry, as well as comprehensive research to evaluate 188 jurisdictions across the five motivators of citizenship out of a maximum attainable score of 100 points.
The Report’s multidimensional approach ensured that the attitudes under investigation were captured as accurately and meaningfully as possible. Consequently, rather than relying exclusively on value judgments to construct and weight the World Citizenship Index, CS Global Partners also leveraged its unparalleled network of industry experts and access to global citizens to isolate the major motivations for attaining a second citizenship. These factors were then further explored and validated by surveying the global mass affluent population on the value of second citizenship.
