Government | Sunday 3 March, 2019 5:44 am |

Saudi Arabia has landed a spot on the list of world’s most powerful countries and has been ranked number 9 in the US News and World Report rankings.

The ranking examines a country’s political and financial influence as well as its international alliances, military strength and how it acts an international leader.

This is an opinion-based ranking, conducted in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, that asked 20,000 people about their opinions of 80 countries.

"Saudi Arabia is a large and wealthy country, with US News describing it as the giant of the Middle East.", the report said.

"The Kingdom also the home of Mecca, to which millions of Muslims travel every year, and has vast oil reserves which it exports around the world.", the report added

The US has retained its spot as the most powerful country in the world in 2019 according to an annual ranking, followed closely by some of its closet allies and traditional adversaries. The top five countries are the US, Russia, China, Germany and the UK.