Slovenia continues to fare well in education, ranking 11th (up one spot from last year), while its biggest weakness is economy, where it ranked 58th (63rd last year), according to the London-based Legatum Institute.

In terms of safety, Slovenia is 14th in the world and in terms of entrepreneurial opportunities and personal freedom 25th. Both is almost on par with last year.

For the last three years, the country ranked 24th overall, while in 2011 it was 22nd and the year before that 21st.

This year, it placed ahead of all of its neighbouring countries except Austria (16th). Italy ranked 37th, Hungary 45th and Croatia 53rd.

The index is calculated by the think tank based on eight parameters: economy, entrepreneurial opportunities, management, education, health, safety, personal freedom and social capital.