MENA Newswire, NEW DELHI: India placed 16th out of 154 countries in the Responsible Nations Index 2026, a new global ranking that assesses how countries use national power in relation to citizens, the environment and the wider international community. The index was launched in New Delhi under the aegis of the World Intellectual Foundation, which said the framework is intended to broaden comparisons beyond conventional measures such as economic size or military strength.
The launch was held at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre in the capital, with former President Ram Nath Kovind attending as chief guest. A government release said the index is the result of a three-year academic and policy research initiative led by the World Intellectual Foundation, with scholarly contributions from Jawaharlal Nehru University and methodological validation by the Indian Institute of Management Mumbai.
Singapore topped the 2026 table with an overall score of 0.61945, followed by Switzerland at 0.58692 and Denmark at 0.58372. Cyprus ranked fourth and Sweden fifth, while India’s score was listed at 0.551513. In the top 20, India ranked above France in 17th place, as well as Albania at 18th, Poland at 19th and the Netherlands at 20th.
The index placed several major economies lower on the list. The United States ranked 66th with a score of 0.50880, while China ranked 68th at 0.50547. Pakistan was listed 90th with 0.48336. The United Arab Emirates ranked 75th, Japan 38th, and Russia 96th, according to the country-by-country table published with the index.
Responsibility metrics move beyond power and GDP
Organizers described the Responsible Nations Index as a composite framework that weighs multiple aspects of responsible state conduct, including ethical governance, social well-being, environmental stewardship and external responsibility. The stated aim is to shift attention from how powerful a country is to how responsibly it performs across key public outcomes, using a standardized score to compare countries across regions and income levels.
The government release said the launch program included an expert panel discussion titled “From Human Well-being to Global Stewardship: Rethinking Responsibility, Prosperity and Peace in the 21st Century.” The session was chaired by N. K. Singh, chairman of the 15th Finance Commission of India, and focused on how nations can be assessed in an interconnected global environment where domestic outcomes and cross-border responsibilities increasingly overlap.
Rankings show wide spread across regions
Beyond the top 20, the table showed the United Kingdom ranked 25th, South Korea 21st, Thailand 24th and Canada 45th. Several smaller and mid-sized economies appeared in the upper tier, including Georgia at 10th and Croatia at 11th. The ranking also listed Libya at 65th, immediately above the United States, and placed several Latin American and African countries in the middle band of the index.
The World Intellectual Foundation said its index is designed to provide a comprehensive and objective assessment of responsible behavior, emphasizing indicators linked to peace, prosperity and sustainability. It described its methodology as rooted in scientific rigor, consultations with stakeholders and transparent data collection, with the index report positioned as a starting point for a broader international dialogue on responsible nationhood and cooperative progress.