Italy has been crowned the 'country of the year' by The Economist. Here's what this means and why the country took the top spot.

2021 has been nothing short of momentous for Italy – from winning the European cup to triumphing in the Eurovision song contest and claiming gold in the Olympics, the country has repeatedly stood out for its global achievements this year.

However, these aren’t the reasons Italy has been named ‘country of the year’ by global news magazine The Economist.

Instead, it’s taken first place for its politics.

“The Economist has often criticised Italy for picking leaders, such as Silvio Berlusconi, who could usefully have followed the Eurovision-winning song’s admonition to ‘shut up and behave‘,” writes the publication.

“Because of weak governance, Italians were poorer in 2019 than they had been in 2000. Yet this year, Italy changed,” it added.

It attributes Italy’s newfound economical success to the country’s leader since February 2021, Mario Draghi, who it described as “a competent, internationally respected prime minister”.

One distinguishing feature of Draghi’s success is said to be the national recovery and resilience plan, backed by EU funds.

“For once, a broad majority of its politicians buried their differences to back a programme of thoroughgoing reform that should mean Italy gets the funds to which it is entitled under the EU’s post-pandemic recovery plan,” reads the report.

Draghi unveiled the 222.1-billion-euro ($268.3-billion) programme back in April, pledging to address both the damage inflicted by Covid-19 and Italy’s long-standing structural issues.

The investment is part of the EU’s 750-billion-euro post-pandemic recovery fund – a figure that has now grown to €806.9 billion – intended for the whole bloc, with Italy set to be the biggest recipient.