CITIZENSHIP
Citizenship nationality
and
GERMAN NATIONALITY RANKED HIGHEST IN THE WORLD
G
ermany’s quality of nationality is ranked highest in the world, according to the Henley &
Partners – Kochenov Quality of Nationality Index (QNI), which was launched in London on Wednesday, 13 September. Consistently securing the top spot for
the last six years, Germany scored 82.7 per cent out of a possible 100 per cent on the index — the first of its kind to objectively rank the value of every nationality of the world in terms of legal status in which to develop your talents and business. The global mean in 2016 was 39.32
per cent, with Afghanistan sitting at the bottom of the index with a score of just 14.6 per cent. France and Denmark following closely
behind Germany, and share second place on the index with a score of 82.4 per cent. Iceland ranks third overall at 81.3 per cent. The UK also made it into the Extremely
High category on the index, just missing out on a Top 10 place by coming 12th with a score of 79.2 per cent. The US, is ranked only 29th on the QNI with a score of 68.8 per cent – mainly due to its relatively low Settlement Freedom compared to nationalities of the EU member states, and its weak showing on the Peace and Stability element of the index. Professor Dr Dimitry Kochenov, a
leading constitutional law professor with a long-standing interest in European and
comparative citizenship law, says the key premise of the index is that it’s possible to compare the relative worth of nationalities, as opposed to, simply, states. “Everyone has a nationality of one
or more states. States differ to a great degree – Russia is huge, Malta is small – Luxembourg is rich, but Mongolia is less so. Just as with the states, the nationalities differ too. Importantly, there is no direct
correlation between the power of the state and the quality of its nationality. Nationality plays a significant part in determining our opportunities and aspirations, and the QNI allows us to analyse this objectively.” The QNI is not a perception index.
It uses a wide variety of quantifiable data to determine the opportunities and limitations that our nationalities impose on us. To achieve this, the QNI measures the internal value of nationality – the quality of
life and opportunities for
personal growth within a nationality’s country of origin – and the external value of nationality, which identifies the diversity and quality of opportunities that nationalities allow us to pursue outside our country of origin. “Before the launch of the QNI, no
single, credible source existed that ranked the nationalities of the world. The second edition of the QNI, which represents the status quo as at 10 October 2016,
ref lects the quality of all of the world’s nationalities. It also includes a number of new nationality and status entries, such as Israeli laissez passer, South Sudan, and eight British nationalities/statuses. The methodology has also been
updated to include territories such as Dutch and French overseas territories, US territories, Greenland and the Faroe Islands as settlement destinations,” Professor Kochenov explains.
Brexit and the implications for UK nationality This second edition of the QNI also interrogates the quality of a post hard Brexit British nationality, comparing it to its current status. According to Kochenov, a hard Brexit could leave the UK with a nationality that doesn’t enjoy settlement and working rights in 30 leading states, overwhelmingly impairing the quality of its nationality. The QNI research shows that even if
you presume no economic loss to the UK as a result of leaving the EU, and focus only on the external rather than internal components of nationality quality, the UK will be in free fall in terms of its quality, losing its value very sharply and by far exceeding the losses experienced by the countries in the midst of bitter political and armed conf licts, as well as divided societies whose nationalities are at the forefront of failing to perform, such as Syrian and Libyan nationalities. “The UK is about to establish a
world record in terms of profoundly undermining the quality of its nationality without going through any violent conf lict, falling from the elite group of extremely high-quality nationalities to
22 | Re:locate | January 2018
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
