Saudi Arabia has been ranked as the 9th most powerful country in the world followed by the United Arab Emirates at No. 10, according to a ranking released this week by U.S. News & World Report.
The United States, Russia and China are the most powerful countries in the world, ranked as No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 respectively.
Power was a sub-ranking on the U.S. News' 2017 Best Countries report, which placed the UAE at No. 22 and Saudi Arabia at No. 32 overall. Switzerland, Canada and the United Kingdom are the world's top three best countries according to the findings.
The UAE is the world's best up-and-coming economy
The UAE also took No. 1 spot in the Movers sub-ranking. The countries in this category are poised to grow economically at rates "almost double the global average."
"Nations that differentiate themselves are those that have the resiliency and momentum to overcome the challenges," the report says.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar also made the top ten on the movers sub-ranking, placing No. 7, No. 9 and No. 10 respectively.
For Cultural Influence and Quality of Life, the UAE also ranked well, coming in at No. 16 and No. 24 respectively.
Unsurprsiging, Egypt ranked high for its Heritage
Egypt came it a No. 11 on the reports Heritage sub-ranking – beating out the United Kingdom, which was ranked 12th.
"Countries that have created distinctive ways of life and value the past are prized by people as much as nations that look to the future," the report says.
The countries that score high on this sub-ranking "are those most readily associated with a unique identity."
The rankings are "based on how global perceptions define countries in terms of a number of qualitative characteristics, impressions that have the potential to drive trade, travel and investment and directly affect national economies. Eighty nations – up from 60 in the inaugural rankings – were measured in the report," according to the report's methodology.
Researchers identified 65 attributes, which were then included in a survey to 21,000 people from around the world. The rankings were compiled based on the responses.
Nine sub-rankings made up the overall ranking, including: Adventure, Citizenship, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power and Quality of Life.