10 Most Resilient Countries

The 2026 FM Resilience Index, recently released by property insurer FM, is an annual ranking of 130 countries and territories by the resilience of their business environments. The Index includes data from third parties, including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Top 10 Most Resilient Countries in 2026

                          Denmark

                          Luxembourg

                          Singapore

                          Norway

                          Switzerland

                          Germany

                          Sweden

                           Ireland

                           Finland

                           Belgium

The Index is based on 18 equally weighted resilience factors:

Macro

• • Control of corruption
  • Education
  • Energy Industry
  • GHG emissions
  • Health expenditure
  • Inflation
  • Internet usage
  • Logistics
  • Political Risk
  • Productivity
  • Urbanization rate
  • Water Stress

Physical

• • Climate change exposure
  • Climate risk exposure
  • Climate quality
  • Cybersecurity
  • Fire risk quality
  • Seismic risk exposure

Analysis

The following is an excerpt from the report.

Denmark’s performance was driven by an increase in its scores in cybersecurity, climate risk exposure, climate risk quality, fire risk quality and greenhouse gas emissions. 

The United States—which includes three zones—finished outside the top 10, with Zone 1 (Eastern United States) ranking No. 12, Zone 2 (Western United States) No. 16 and Zone 3 (Midwest / Southwestern United States) at No. 11.

Elsewhere in the Americas, Mexico (80) slipped by four spots and Brazil (71) by 14. In Asia, India continued its rise, moving up three spots in Zone 1 (Eastern India) to 94, and four spots in Zones 2 (Northern India) to 100 and 3 (Central / Western region) to 76.

Overall, the biggest risers over the past five years include Ghana, which climbed 18 places to rank 70; Rwanda, up 14 places to 67; and Nigeria, which gained 12 positions to reach 102. The steepest declines include Croatia, which dropped 22 places to 44; Cameroon, down 18 to 113; Mongolia, which fell 17 spots to 108; and Iran, which dipped 16 spots to 125.

Taken together, this year’s index results indicate relatively higher scores in Europe and Asia, mixed performance in parts of the Americas and improvements in several African countries.

In summary, locations in the top 50 tend to recover more than 30% faster on average from property losses than those further down the table.

Areas of Concern

The report notes water stress and fire risk quality are emerging as closely linked physical risk drivers. For data centers, where low water stress is essential for reliable cooling and fire suppression, the current transition from fossil fuels to renewables and battery-based power systems may create more exposure to fire risk. Further complicating this issue is the increasing frequency of wildland fires driven by climate change.

"Water is still the best way to put out a fire, and in many places, there are severe limitations on water availability," said Dr. Louis Gritzo, chief science officer in the report. "The changing climate, increased temperature and the drive to be more sustainable through electrification - there are a lot of factors that add up to produce a very rapidly changing hazard."

Countries in the bottom third of water stress rankings include China, Germany, Mexico and Spain. Of these, Mexico alone stands out as also being in the bottom 50% of fire risk quality. Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all score lower than 90 for resilience to water stress and border each other in an extremely arid region.

Energy intensity was another area of concern to data centers. The report notes that while Denmark, Ireland and Switzerland stand out as top rated countries both in terms of overall resilience and energy intensity, many top overall countries lag in energy efficiency.

While a top energy producer, the United States comes in at 99 for energy intensity, demonstrating.  Belgium, Finland and Norway, while ranking overall at 10, 9 and 4 respectively, also have lower than expected energy scores for such high performers.

Flood risks are an ongoing concern. FM recently surveyed 800 risk decisionmakers, asking them to identify where their business-critical operations are located, then estimate the percentage of that country's economic activity exposed to wind and flood risk. The result: 74% underestimate their actual exposure.

This survey revealed an awareness gap that is widest in China and India, followed by Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. Of these, only Canada's Zones 2 and 3 and India's Zone 3 rank above 100 for resilience to climate risk exposure. France, Germany, Singapore and the United States each show the most alignment between perceived and actual exposure, with the central/midwest United States overestimating risk.

For further insight, including country-by-country comparison, see the full report.