The Official Asia Pacific Rugby League Confederation Rankings are calculated on each nation’s performance over the current season and are influenced by a nation’s official RLIF ranking.
Influencers of position include:
- The result of the match i.e. win, lose or draw
- The margin of victory (or defeat)
- The relative strength of opposition faced
- The date of the match – more recent matches are weighted more heavily
- The importance of the match e.g. a World Cup match is given greater weighting than a standalone international.
- Official RLIF World Ranking
Men’s Rankings as of December 2017
| Rank | Nation | |
| 1 (1) | 🇦🇺 | Australia |
| 2 (2) | 🇳🇿 | New Zealand |
| 3 (5) | 🇹🇴 | Tonga |
| 4 (4) | 🇫🇯 | Fiji |
| 5 (3) | 🇼🇸 | Samoa |
| 6 (6) | 🇵🇬 | Papua New Guinea |
| 7 (10) | 🇵🇭 | Philippines |
| 8 (7) | 🇨🇰 | Cook Islands |
| 9 (13) | 🇨🇱 | Chile |
| 10 (8) | 🇳🇺 | Niue |
| 11 (9) | 🇿🇦 | South Africa |
| 12 (11) | 🇻🇺 | Vanuatu |
| 13 (15) | 🇸🇻 | El Salvador |
| 15 (-) | 🇦🇷 | Argentina |
| 16 (-) | 🇨🇴 | Colombia |
| 17 (-) | 🇯🇵 | Japan |
| 18 (14) | 🇸🇧 | Solomon Islands |
| 19 (-) | 🇧🇷 | Brazil |
| 20 (16) | 🇺🇾 | Uruguay |
| 21 (-) | 🇭🇰 | Hong Kong |
() Indicated previous position.
Women’s Rankings as of December 2017
| Rank | Nation | |
| 1 | 🇦🇺 | Australia |
| 2 | 🇳🇿 | New Zealand |
| 3 | 🇨🇰 | Cook Islands |
| 4 | 🇵🇬 | Papua New Guinea |
