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International risk-assessment firm rates Canada highly but not on top
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Daily Brew
A British firm that specializes in risk assessment ranks Canada high on the list of the world's safest places to live. But not on top.
Maplecroft's Global Risks Index lists Canada 169th out of 178 countries in terms of secure places, QMI News Agency reports.
In this case, being near the bottom of the list is a good thing. The No. 1 ranked country on Maplecroft's list is Somalia, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
However, Canada is not rated as highly as New Zealand, Finland and Denmark, which routinely show up at the top of other livability lists.
Maplecroft's Global Risks Atlas for 2012 also found that despite their economic growth, the so-called BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) "are no better placed to withstand shocks from major risk events than they were four years ago."
According to Maplecroft spokesman Jason McGeown, Canada does well in its low exposure and high resilience in areas such as resource security, reaction to disease pandemics, governance risk and social problems.
But when it comes to vulnerability to macroeconomic troubles this year, it's only ranked 122nd out of 178 countries, QMI reported.
"This is primarily a product of a worsening macroeconomic environment due to exposure to the slowdown prompted by crisis in Europe," McGeown said.
Maplecroft also points to Canada's aging population as a medium- to long-term factor in the country's resilience to economic burdens. Canada is also high risk in the firm's Climate Change Index, he said.
"This reflects Canada's significant contribution to climate change ... which will place increasing pressure from the international community and domestic environmental groups on the government to implement regulatory provisions to reduce emissions," said McGeown.
However, the company says the high ranking of Canada and other top-rated countries, including Sweden, Germany and Australia, suggest "traditional Western styled democracies are still among the safest investment destinations in terms of their exposure and resilience to major risk events."
Maplecroft's main focus was on the BRICs, which despite their increased economic clout have not seen improvement in societal resilience or governance.
"With hopes for a global economic recovery resting with the BRICs, investors and business seeking new high-growth, high-risk markets need to be aware of their limited resilience to global risks." Maplecroft CEO Alyson Warhurst said in a news release.
"A country's resilience to external and internal shocks is built up over time, so as the BRICs political risk environment improves we might see resilience strengthen, but our results reveal this is yet to happen."
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