Country Contest

== CCU Ultimate Country Ranking ==
On 7 June 2019, the CCU announced the addition of the CCU Ultimate Country Ranking, based on all previous 21 editions of the contest. It is exclusively based on appearances in the finals, with non-qualifications being considered as "withdrawals" (==). A country must have been in at least 5 finals to be included in the ranking. The CCU also confirmed that associate countries would not be included, considering their limited participation.
Controversially, CCU member winners Vatican City and Turkey were not included, due to their four and three respective finals. Additionally, winners Brazil and Greenland were not included due to their associate status; however, should they had been allowed, they would not qualify due to participating in four and two finals respectively. The CCU however, defended these rules, stating that "having countries with less than 5 final appearances would make the rankings insufficient, due to lack of results data, which would be an advantage for some, or disadvantage for others."
With Iceland and Italy both having been eliminated at Country Contest 22, France became the first country to compete in 20 finals, and would now take the lead under most finals participation after the three-way tie the prior edition.
On 14 June 2019, the CCU confirmed that they would use the ranking to determine the allocation draw for Country Contest 23, in order to balance out the semi-finals. However, no permanent decision regarding the allocation draw would be taken until the aftermath of the contest, and duration after. Countries not inclunded in the ranking would be allocated depending on the number of finals they competed in.
On 15 June 2019, the CCU confirmed that an updated ranking based on the 22 editions of the contest would be used. No new countries qualified for the ranking, despite some margining in. Greenland would be grouped with the non-rankers.
=== List ===
Top Ten 	Top Ten 	Top Ten 	Top Ten
No. 	Country 	Average 	Finals
1 	 	7.9 	17
2 	 	8.1 	19
3 	 	8.5 	19
4 	 	9.2 	15
5 	 	10.1 	15
6 	 	10.2 	11
7 	 	10.3 	8
8 	 	10.7 	20
9 	 	10.7 	17
10 	 	10.8 	13
Top Twenty 	Top Twenty 	Top Twenty 	Top Twenty
11 	 	11.1 	14
12 	 	11.2 	10
13 	 	11.3 	14
14 	 	11.7 	10
14 	 	11.8 	12
16 	 	12.7 	10
17 	 	12.8 	12
18 	 	12.9 	16
19 	 	13.2 	6
20 	 	13.3 	6
Top Thirty 	Top Thirty 	Top Thirty 	Top Thirty
21 	 	13.7 	16
22 	 	14.3 	8
23 	 	14.4 	17
24 	 	14.5 	8
25 	 	15.1 	10
26 	 	15.2 	9
27 	 	15.3 	10
28 	 	15.3 	10
29 	 	15.3 	12
30 	 	15.6 	7
Top Forty 	Top Forty 	Top Forty 	Top Forty
31 	 	15.7 	7
32 	 	15.9 	7
33 	 	15.9 	12
34 	 	16.1 	9
35 	 	16.2 	6
36 	 	16.4 	8
37 	 	17.0 	8
38 	 	17.2 	11
39 	 	17.3 	8
40 	 	17.4 	8
Top Fifty 	Top Fifty 	Top Fifty 	Top Fifty
41 	 	18.7 	6
42 	 	19.4 	8
43 	 	19.4 	7
44 	 	22.2 	6
Failed to qualify	Failed to qualify	Failed to qualify	Failed to qualify
rowspan="16" 	 	rowspan="16" 	4
 	4 	 	
 	4 	 	
 	3 	 	
 	3 	 	
 	3 	 	
 	2 	 	
 	2 	 	
 	2 	 	
 	2 	 	
 	1 	 	
 	1 	 	
 	0 	 	
 	0 	 	
 	0 	 	
 	0 	 	
== Medal table ==
Country	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
 	1 	1 	1 	3
 	1 	0 	0 	1
== Winning countries ==
Edn.	Host city 	Country	Points	Runner-up	Margin	Third
#01 	Tel Aviv 	 	131 	 	6 	
#02 	Paris 	 	169 	 	0 	
#03 	Rome 	 	165 	 	5 	
#04 	Reykjavik 	 	132 	 	14 	
#05 	Moscow 	 	125 	 	26 	
#06 	Paris 	 	135 	 	42 	
#07 	Valletta 	 	293 	 	45 	
#08 	Lisbon 	 	344 	 	27 	
#09 	Istanbul 	 	504 	 	69 	
#10 	Casablanca	 	430 	 	56 	
#11 	London 	 	335 	 	121 	
#12 	Astana 	 	378 	 	66 	
#13 	Córdoba 	 	395 	 	123 	
#14 	Athens 	 	280 	 	4 	
#15 	Florence 	 	273 	 	20 	
#16 	Sintra 	 	299 	 	56 	
#17 	Bern 	 	761 	 	304 	
#18 	Akureyri 	 	373 	 	1 	
#19 	Prague 	 	392 	 	78 	
#20 	Zagreb 	 	599 	 	21 	
#21 	Oslo 	 	250 	 	14 	
#22 	Dublin 	 	274 	 	12 	
=== By country ===
Times	Country	Edition(s)
3 	 	#02, #04, #14
2 	 	#03, #17
1 	 	#01
1 	 	#05
1 	 	#06
1 	 	#07
1 	 	#08
1 	 	#09
1 	 	#10
1 	 	#11
1 	 	#12
1 	 	#13
1 	 	#15
1 	 	#16
1 	 	#18
1 	 	#19
1 	 	#20
1 	 	#21
1 	 	#22
==Runner-ups==
=== By country ===
Times	Country	Edition(s)
2 	 	#09, #10
2 	 	#05, #12
2 	 	#04, #15
2 	 	#13, #19
2 	 	#06, #20
2 	 	#16, #21
1 	 	#01
1 	 	#02
1 	 	#03
1 	 	#07
1 	 	#08
1 	 	#11
1 	 	#14
1 	 	#17
1 	 	#18
1 	 	#20
1 	 	#22
1 	 	
==Second runner-ups (Third places)==
=== By country ===
Times	Country	Edition(s)
2 	 	#02, #06
2 	 	#07, #12
2 	 	#11, #15
1 	 	#01
1 	 	#03
1 	 	#04
1 	 	#05
1 	 	#08
1 	 	#09
1 	 	#10
1 	 	#13
1 	 	#14
1 	 	#16
1 	 	#17
1 	 	#18
1 	 	#19
1 	 	#20
1 	 	#21
1 	 	#22
==Hosts==
Typically, the winner of an edition is the automatic host of the next edition, but should they decline the right is given to the runner-up country, and so on.
=== Special instances ===
* hosted the fifth edition after winners and runners-up declined to host the contest, citing costs of hosting the event.
* hosted the sixth edition after winners declined due to "costs related to hosting the event." Unlike last edition, they were appointed by RTL as a neighboring country, however the CCU did not allow this from then on.
* hosted the eleventh edition due to winners and runners-up both not being eligible to host the contest.
* hosted the sixteenth edition due to winners and runners-up not having suitable venues for the contest.
=== Countries which have hosted twice ===
* became the first country to do so after RTL appointed them to be the hosts of #06.
* became the second country after rightfully hosting #15, despite missing out on hosting 1 edition.
* became the third country after it won the bidding stage to host #16.
* became the fourth country after rightfully hosting #04 and #16, the only to do so.