The World’s Most Forward-Thinking Country Isn’t America, So What Is?

It’s Google-official: Citizens of this nation are always looking ahead.

When it comes to the most forward-thinking countries, Germany stands alone at the top of the list. As proof positive, a team of researchers at Warwick Business School scrutinized data provided by 45 billion search queries on Google Trends pooled from 45 different countries. The researchers analyzed the frequency with which citizens of each nation, in 2015, searched “2014” (the past) versus “2016” (the future). Based on the results, researchers concluded that Germany—followed by Switzerland and Austria—was responsible for the most future-related searches. And, as Leslie Nguyen-Okwu states on OZY, there may be a concrete reason why. According to Nguyen-Okwu, there is a correlation between countries with higher per capita GDP and an inclination to look ahead. She goes on to say that, “…people in richer countries are more likely to dig for information about their futures — planning their next big vacation, for example, or getting ahead on who’s running for office.” On the flip side, some of the most backwards-gazing countries are Kazakhstan and Pakistan.