New Zealand ranked second most beautiful country in the world

From pristine beaches and lush native forests to rugged mountains and clear blue lakes, New Zealand's outdoors really can't be beaten.

Except that, according to one study, it can, and was, by Indonesia.

After analysing the number of natural features like volcanoes, coral reefs, tropical rainforests and glaciers per 100,000 square kilometres, money.co.uk crowned Indonesia as 'the world's most naturally beautiful country'.

New Zealand came second, followed by Colombia, Tanzania, Mexico and Kenya.

However, the study seems to equate beauty with quantity, ranking the countries according to the number of features, not necessarily their quality.

Indonesia topped the list for volcanoes, coral reefs, tropical rainforest. Photo / Eugena Clara, Unslpash

Indonesia had the most 'natural beauty spots' and for every 100,000 square kilometres of land, the nation had more than 55,800km2 of tropical forest. The most popular amongst visitors are the forests found on Sumatra and Kalimantan island.

Consisting of more than 17,000 islands, and 50,000km of coastline, Indonesia has more than 55,000 square kilometres of coral reef teeming with marine life.

Spots like Gilli Islands, Seminyak, Nusa Dua and Sanur have long drawn in tourists with their spotless sandy beaches and clear blue water.

New Zealand had an exceptional amount of land in the 'protected areas'. Photo / Tobias Keller, Unsplash

Meanwhile, New Zealand had an exceptional amount of land in the 'protected areas' category compared to other spots on the top 10 list. For every 100,000 square kilometres in New Zealand, almost 4,000 is protected, compared to Indonesia's 39km2, Kenya's 0.88km2 and France's 1.6km2.

Similar to Indonesia and New Zealand, Colombia also has a long coastline and diverse landscape. Although it's the Amazon rainforest that helps it clock up 495,700 square kilometres of tropical forest.

From the Pacific to the Caribbean, Colombia's coastline holds a number of beauty spots that scored highly. Photo / Ricardo Gomez, Unsplash

In other words, an amount that could almost cover the whole of New Zealand, twice.

Also on the top 10 list was Kenya, India, France, Papua New Guinea and Comoros.

US was in 12th place, followed by Australia in 19th and Tonga in 24th. The UK did not feature in the top 50.