Panama ranks first on the list of best countries in the category of Open for Business, according to the edition that was released this year. The list is produced annually by the collaboration between the US News & World Report, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the brand strategy firm Y & R, BAV.

2017 marks Panama's ascent in ranking over competitive countries including Luxembourg, Switzerland, Denmark, and Finland who achieved second, third, fourth, and fifth rankings, respectively.

In order to rank the countries in the category of Open for Business, researchers conducted a survey that involved 21,000 people from four different regions to characterize 80 countries with specific idiosyncrasies.

The Subranking of Open for Business is revealed to be based on an equally weighted average of 5 countries and the characteristics of which are related to business. Bureaucratic aspects, favorable fiscal environment, cheap manufacturing costs, and transparent government practices are taken into consideration for the classification.

The subranking is created by associating the attributes of the countries with similar global perceptions in survey responses. The scores of each country on this list were determined by averaging the scores the nation got on each of the characteristics that make it up. It was elaborated that in spite of the perception that shapes Panama as a corrupted country and places it last when it comes to transparent commercial practices. Panama outperformed half of the countries from its 41# in the overall ranking of the best countries, moving up to the first position.

2017's report and rankings of the "Best Countries: Open for Business" are based on how global perceptions define countries on the basis of several qualitative attributes, impressions that can potentially boost investment, trade, and travel, and directly influence national economies. At least 80 countries were measured in the report according to following categories: entrepreneurship, adventure, motors, cultural influence, heritage, quality of life, open to business, power and situation of citizens.