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Sub-region of Americas · Country Index 2026

Northern America

How are the countries of Northern America doing?

Northern America’s two placed countries are Canada, joint 17th of 178 in the Country Index 2026, and United States, 37th. The region’s median is the better of the two, 17th, which places the region 3rd of 21 sub-regions. 2 more of its 4 countries and territories are not placed.

Northern AmericaUN M49 021

Northern America, shown in red on a map of the world

17th

median position of 178 · 3rd of 21 sub-regions

Americas →median 78th

01Who is in it

The countries of Northern America

Alphabetical, with each country’s own banner photograph. The position is its place in the whole world ranking, never within the region.

02The region

About Northern America

The United States, Canada, and the North Atlantic territories.

Northern America covers the north of the continent: Canada and the United States, with Greenland in the Arctic and Bermuda in the Atlantic. It reaches from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico and holds the Great Lakes — the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world — the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains.

Its lands have been home to Indigenous nations for thousands of years. British and French colonisation shaped both large countries: the United States declared its independence in 1776, and Canada gained self-government step by step from 1867. Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, and Bermuda a British Overseas Territory.

03Where

Northern America on the map

Each member shaded by its position in the Country Index 2026, darkest for the best placed; the countries across its land borders in grey. Hover a country for its position, or select it to open its profile.

Country Index position: 1st178thMember, not placedAcross the border, another regionNot a country this site tracks

04Country Index 2026

Where Northern America’s countries place

Best placed first. Every position is a place in the whole world ranking of 178, never a second list within the region; “=” marks a position shared with another country. Hover the ⓘ for where a country would sit if any one key statistic were dropped.

The full Country Index 2026
Northern America’s 2 placed countries by their Country Index 2026 position, best placed first.
In regionCountryIn the world1st178th
1Canada17 / 178between 14th and 19th if any one key were dropped · standings on 15 of 16 topics
2United States37 / 178between 35th and 40th if any one key were dropped · standings on 15 of 16 topics

A further 2 of its countries and territories are not placed: the Country Index 2026 places a country only once it holds a standing on 12 of its 16 voting topics. Bermuda and Greenland.

Northern America among the 21 sub-regions with a median

3rd of 21. Nothing is weighted by population or size.

  1. Northern Europe6thPlaced countries run from Denmark 2nd to Latvia 25th.
  2. Western Europe10thPlaced countries run from Switzerland 1st to France 19th.
  3. Australia and New Zealand17thPlaced countries run from New Zealand 17th to Australia 24th.
  4. Northern America17thPlaced countries run from Canada 17th to United States 37th.
  5. Eastern Asia23rdPlaced countries run from South Korea 14th to Mongolia 73rd.
  6. Southern Europe32ndPlaced countries run from Slovenia 12th to Bosnia and Herzegovina 63rd.
  7. Eastern Europe39thPlaced countries run from Czechia 11th to Russia 68th.
  8. Polynesia70thPlaced countries run from Samoa 70th to Tonga 85th.
  9. South America74thPlaced countries run from Uruguay 34th to Venezuela 137th.
  10. Caribbean78thPlaced countries run from Barbados 63rd to Haiti 169th.
  11. Central America81stPlaced countries run from Costa Rica 40th to Nicaragua 134th.
  12. Western Asia93rdPlaced countries run from Cyprus 35th to Yemen 176th.
  13. South-eastern Asia95thPlaced countries run from Singapore 26th to Myanmar 153rd.
  14. Central Asia100thPlaced countries run from Kazakhstan 60th to Turkmenistan 148th.
  15. Southern Asia100thPlaced countries run from Bhutan 44th to Afghanistan 172nd.
  16. Melanesia106thPlaced countries run from Fiji 62nd to Papua New Guinea 138th.
  17. Southern Africa116thPlaced countries run from South Africa 102nd to Eswatini 140th.
  18. Northern Africa127thPlaced countries run from Tunisia 107th to Libya 174th.
  19. Eastern Africa143rdPlaced countries run from Mauritius 46th to Somalia 177th.
  20. Western Africa144thPlaced countries run from Cabo Verde 74th to Guinea-Bissau 168th.
  21. Middle Africa161stPlaced countries run from São Tomé and Príncipe 104th to Chad 175th.
  22. Micronesia—
  23. Americas, the whole continent78th
  24. The world’s midpoint88th
1st178thmedian

The square is each region’s median position; the grey bar runs from its best-placed to its lowest-placed country. Hover a row for their names.

05By subject

Topic by topic

Every country’s position on each topic, its shade darker the higher it sits in that topic’s field; select a cell for the country’s page on the topic. Strongest for Northern America: Digital & Technology, 1st of 22 sub-regions. Weakest: Environment & Sustainability, 20th of 21.

All topics
Northern America: each country’s position on each topic, with the region’s median and its place among sub-regions.
Digital & TechnologyFood & AgricultureGovernance & InstitutionsWork & LabourEconomy & InnovationEnergyDevelopment & Human CapitalGender & EqualityHealth & WellbeingMobility & TradeDemocracy & Civil LibertiesPeace & SecurityPoverty & InequalityRisk & ResilienceEnvironment & SustainabilityEducation & KnowledgeMoney & Public FinancePeople & Population
Canada8 of 19831 of 1758 of 19436 of 18218 of 17620 of 19327 of 19620 of 18333 of 20030 of 14720 of 19834 of 17740 of 15972 of 192151 of 181No standingNo standingNo standing
United States13 of 19825 of 17525 of 19414 of 18228 of 17664 of 19346 of 19641 of 18332 of 2008 of 14757 of 198136 of 177115 of 15986 of 192171 of 181No standingNo standingNo standing
BermudaNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standing124 of 147No standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standing
GreenlandNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standing22 of 193No standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standing
Region median8th of 19825th of 1758th of 19414th of 18218th of 17622nd of 19327th of 19620th of 18332nd of 20030th of 14720th of 19834th of 17740th of 15972nd of 192151st of 181———
Among sub-regions1st of 222nd of 212nd of 222nd of 213rd of 213rd of 224th of 224th of 214th of 224th of 215th of 225th of 207th of 219th of 2220th of 21———

Columns run from the topic where Northern America places best among sub-regions to the one where it places lowest. A region’s median on a topic needs at least two members with a standing; a hatched cell has no standing.

06In numbers

Northern America in 6 numbers

Each line is every country in the world at its published value; Northern America’s countries are the red ticks, and the dashed line is the world median. There is no regional average: a region has countries, not a life expectancy of its own.

All statistics

  • Population

    people · log scale

    UN DESA Population Division · 2023 · 222 countries · no better end

    GreenlandBermudaCanadaUnited States496world median 6,541,4131,438,069,596

  • Land area

    km²

    FAO · 2024 · 221 countries · no better end

    BermudaGreenlandCanadaUnited States0.4world median 87,58916,376,870

  • GDP per person

    international $, PPP · log scale

    World Bank Group · 2025 · 185 countries · higher is better

    No reading: Bermuda, Greenland

    CanadaUnited States1,067world median 17,265139,593

  • Life expectancy

    years at birth

    UN DESA Population Division · 2023 · 222 countries · higher is better

    GreenlandUnited StatesBermudaCanada54.46world median 74.6386.37

  • Human development

    HDI, 0–1

    UNDP Human Development Report Office · 2023 · 193 countries · higher is better

    No reading: Bermuda, Greenland

    United StatesCanada0.388world median 0.7620.972

  • Unemployment

    % of the labour force

    ILO · 2025 · 182 countries · lower is better

    No reading: Bermuda, Greenland

    United StatesCanada0.13world median 5.08434.2
Every value for Northern America’s countries
CountryPopulation 2023Land area 2024GDP per person 2025Life expectancy 2023Human development 2023Unemployment 2025
Bermuda64,698rank 20054rank 213—82.31rank 28——
Canada39,299,105rank 388,788,700rank 457,990rank 2482.63rank 230.939rank 166.907rank 58
Greenland55,922rank 201410,449rank 58—70.06rank 156——
United States343,477,335rank 39,147,420rank 376,931rank 1079.3rank 570.938rank 174.198rank 113

07In records

Northern America in records

The member at the extreme of each statistic, read from its newest edition. Where two members share the top, no record is named.

08Latest editions

Who rose and fell in the published ranks

The moves of Northern America’s countries between each report’s two newest editions, in the publisher’s own ranks. A report whose field changed by more than 5% is left out.

Ranks as published by UNDP Human Development Report Office in the Human Development Index: reference years 2022 (192 countries ranked) → 2023 (193 ranked), both from its 2025 report.

Improved most

rank before → after
  1. United States18 → 17+1

Declined most

rank before → after

No country moved this way.

Every country in the Human Development Index

09In context

Across the border

The countries outside Northern America that share a land border with one of its members, with their world positions, and the sub-regions they belong to. Land borders only, as drawn on the map.

Central America

The neighbouring sub-regions

10Places

Landmarks of Northern America

Two places from each member with a gallery on its profile.

  • Valley of the Ten Peaks and Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Canada. Mountains from left to right: Tonsa (3057 m), Mount Perren (3051 m), Mount Allen…

    Moraine Lake

    Glacially fed lake in Banff National Park, Alberta, in the Valley of the Ten Peaks.

    Photo: Gorgo · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale

  • Horseshoe Falls

    Horseshoe Falls

    Largest of the three waterfalls at Niagara Falls, on the Canada–United States border.

    Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 2.5 · via Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale

  • Grand Canyon view from Pima Point

    Grand Canyon

    Steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in northern Arizona.

    Photo: Chensiyuan · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale

  • The Statue of Liberty (Bartholdi, 1886) on Liberty Island; a sightseeing boat passes in the foreground with the New Jersey skyline behind.

    Statue of Liberty

    Copper statue on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, dedicated in 1886.

    Photo: Christian David · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale

11Keep reading

Explore further

All regions

The rest of Americas

12Method

Questions, method and sources

Which countries are in Northern America?

4 countries and territories: Bermuda, Canada, Greenland and United States. Membership follows the United Nations’ M49 classification.

Which country in Northern America is placed highest?

Canada, placed joint 17th of 178 in the Country Index 2026. United States is placed lowest, 37th. 2 of the region’s 4 countries and territories are placed; the rest hold standings on too few topics.

How does Northern America compare with other regions?

Its median is 17th of 178 — with two placed countries, the better of the two positions, which places it 3rd of 21 sub-regions. The median across Americas is 78th. The middle of the whole field is 88th. Nothing is weighted by population or size.

How many people live in Northern America?

382,897,060 in 2023, the sum of the UN DESA Population Division’s figures for its 4 countries and territories.

What is the largest country in Northern America?

By land area, United States: 9,147,420 square kilometres (2024). By population, United States: 343,477,335 people (2023).

How a region’s figure is made
  1. Membership. Countries belong to regions by the United Nations’ M49 classification; each country declares its sub-region, and a continent is the sum of its sub-regions.
  2. Positions. Each country’s position is its Country Index 2026 result, unchanged. This page slices the world ranking by place; it does not re-rank anyone.
  3. The median. A region’s figure is the median of its placed countries’ positions: half sit at or above it, half below. With an even number of placed countries it takes the better of the two middle positions, since there is no country at a half place. Countries the index does not place are named, never counted in.
  4. A place among peers. Continents are compared with continents and sub-regions with sub-regions, never a part with the whole that contains it; regions sharing a median share a place. Nothing is weighted by population or size, and population and land area are the only figures ever added up.

Where the regions come from

United Nations Statistics Division, Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49). M49’s middle level (Sub-Saharan Africa; Latin America and the Caribbean) is left out, so every sub-region sits directly under its continent. Kosovo, Northern Cyprus and Somaliland are not in M49 and are placed by geography.

Where the positions come from

Every position is a country’s result in the Country Index 2026 or one of its topics, unchanged. The population and land-area figures are the UN DESA Population Division’s and the FAO’s, added up and shown with their year; every other statistic names its publisher beside its numbers.

Photographs

Each country’s own banner from its profile: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.

Cite this page

Nations Inquiry (2026). Northern America: countries, population and rankings, Country Index 2026. https://nationsinquiry.com/regions/northern-america

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