What are the most Environment-Friendly Countries?

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It has been decades that the world has been under a constant threat of global warming, climate change and several other environmental issues. Thus, many nations have adopted environmental-friendly solutions like use of renewable energy, recycled products and green technologies. Innovations have brought the use of solar and wind power in several regions around the world.

Environmental Performance Index is released annually with collaboration of World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, and it considers the environmental policies of all the countries which are taken into consideration. The 2018 Environmental Performance Index ranked 180 countries based on 24 indicators, regarding health of environment and ecosystem vitality.

Air quality is a persistent threat to our environment, as air pollution is on a rise around the world, especially in the urban areas where population, traffic and industrialization is increasing day by day. Air-borne diseases have been one of the major reasons for deaths around the world. However, many nations have become alert and are improvising the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions over the past ten years.

The latest advancements in environmental science and analysis have been brought into use for the estimations, and Switzerland has emerged at the top position. The country is claimed to have the best air-quality and the climate is well-protected. This proves how the nation will exhibit good scores in terms of protecting public health and preserving natural resources. In the index, the nation has scored 87.42.

Nations that have ranked high on the list and have scored above 80 are – France, Denmark, Malta and Sweden. The United Kingdom comes close attaining a score of 79.89.

Among the BRICS nations, it is Russia which has scored the most, and that is, 63.79. On the other hand, India performed the least with a score of just 30.57. In fact, it is ranked at fourth last position in the index.

The young country, Burundi ranked the lowest in the Environmental Performance Index, having a score of just 27.43.

Low rankings on the Environment Index indicate that the country needs to make more efforts for environment sustainability, and in protection of biodiversity. Some of the nations have low scores because of broader problems like civil unrest and weak governance. Policymakers need to take serious actions to retain the well-being of people.

For a better understanding of how each nation has fared on the 2018 Environmental Performance Index, refer to the table below.

2018 EPI RANKINGS
Rank	Country	Score
1	Switzerland	87.42
2	France	83.95
3	Denmark	81.6
4	Malta	80.9
5	Sweden	80.51
6	United Kingdom	79.89
7	Luxembourg	79.12
8	Austria	78.97
9	Ireland	78.77
10	Finland	78.64
11	Iceland	78.57
12	Spain	78.39
13	Germany	78.37
14	Norway	77.49
15	Belgium	77.38
16	Italy	76.96
17	New Zealand	75.96
18	Netherlands	75.46
19	Israel	75.01
20	Japan	74.69
21	Australia	74.12
22	Greece	73.6
23	Taiwan	72.84
24	Cyprus	72.6
25	Canada	72.18
26	Portugal	71.91
27	United States of America	71.19
28	Slovakia	70.6
29	Lithuania	69.33
30	Bulgaria	67.85
30	Costa Rica	67.85
32	Qatar	67.8
33	Czech Republic	67.68
34	Slovenia	67.57
35	Trinidad and Tobago	67.36
36	St. Vincent & Grenadines	66.48
37	Latvia	66.12
38	Turkmenistan	66.1
39	Seychelles	66.02
40	Albania	65.46
41	Croatia	65.45
42	Colombia	65.22
43	Hungary	65.01
44	Belarus	64.98
45	Romania	64.78
46	Dominican Republic	64.71
47	Uruguay	64.65
48	Estonia	64.31
49	Singapore	64.23
50	Poland	64.11
51	Venezuela	63.89
52	Russia	63.79
53	Brunei Darussalam	63.57
54	Morocco	63.47
55	Cuba	63.42
56	Panama	62.71
57	Tonga	62.49
58	Tunisia	62.35
59	Azerbaijan	62.33
60	South Korea	62.3
61	Kuwait	62.28
62	Jordan	62.2
63	Armenia	62.07
64	Peru	61.92
65	Montenegro	61.33
66	Egypt	61.21
67	Lebanon	61.08
68	Macedonia	61.06
69	Brazil	60.7
70	Sri Lanka	60.61
71	Equatorial Guinea	60.4
72	Mexico	59.69
73	Dominica	59.38
74	Argentina	59.3
75	Malaysia	59.22
76	Antigua and Barbuda	59.18
77	United Arab Emirates	58.9
78	Jamaica	58.58
79	Namibia	58.46
80	Iran	58.16
81	Belize	57.79
82	Philippines	57.65
83	Mongolia	57.51
84	Serbia	57.49
84	Chile	57.49
86	Saudi Arabia	57.47
87	Ecuador	57.42
88	Algeria	57.18
89	Cabo Verde	56.94
90	Mauritius	56.63
91	Saint Lucia	56.18
92	Bolivia	55.98
93	Barbados	55.76
94	Georgia	55.69
95	Kiribati	55.26
96	Bahrain	55.15
97	Nicaragua	55.04
98	Bahamas	54.99
99	Kyrgyzstan	54.86
100	Nigeria	54.76
101	Kazakhstan	54.56
102	Samoa	54.5
103	Suriname	54.2
104	São Tomé and Príncipe	54.01
105	Paraguay	53.93
106	El Salvador	53.91
107	Fiji	53.09
108	Turkey	52.96
109	Ukraine	52.87
110	Guatemala	52.33
111	Maldives	52.14
112	Moldova	51.97
113	Botswana	51.7
114	Honduras	51.51
115	Sudan	51.49
116	Oman	51.32
117	Zambia	50.97
118	Grenada	50.93
119	Tanzania	50.83
120	China	50.74
121	Thailand	49.88
122	Micronesia	49.8
123	Libya	49.79
124	Ghana	49.66
125	Timor-Leste	49.54
126	Senegal	49.52
127	Malawi	49.21
128	Guyana	47.93
129	Tajikistan	47.85
130	Kenya	47.25
131	Bhutan	47.22
132	Vietnam	46.96
133	Indonesia	46.92
134	Guinea	46.62
135	Mozambique	46.37
136	Uzbekistan	45.88
137	Chad	45.34
138	Myanmar	45.32
139	Côte d’Ivoire	45.25
140	Gabon	45.05
141	Ethiopia	44.78
142	South Africa	44.73
143	Guinea-Bissau	44.67
144	Vanuatu	44.55
145	Uganda	44.28
146	Comoros	44.24
147	Mali	43.71
148	Rwanda	43.68
149	Zimbabwe	43.41
150	Cambodia	43.23
151	Solomon Islands	43.22
152	Iraq	43.2
153	Laos	42.94
154	Burkina Faso	42.83
155	Sierra Leone	42.54
156	Gambia	42.42
157	Republic of the Congo	42.39
158	Bosnia and Herzegovina	41.84
159	Togo	41.78
160	Liberia	41.62
161	Cameroon	40.81
162	Swaziland	40.32
163	Djibouti	40.04
164	Papua New Guinea	39.35
165	Eritrea	39.34
166	Mauritania	39.24
167	Benin	38.17
168	Afghanistan	37.74
169	Pakistan	37.5
170	Angola	37.44
171	Central African Republic	36.42
172	Niger	35.74
173	Lesotho	33.78
174	Haiti	33.74
175	Madagascar	33.73
176	Nepal	31.44
177	India	30.57
178	Democratic Republic of the Congo	30.41
179	Bangladesh	29.56
180	Burundi	27.43

Related links:

Countries with most Environmental-protests

Green States of US

World Environment Maps

Environment Protection Treaties

Related maps:

World Map