Key Findings | Investigating Prosperity | Leaders & Laggards | Principles of Prosperity | A Focus on Principles

Countries are ranked overall by the simple average of their rankings in the Material Wealth and Life Satisfaction sub-indices. Thus a top position reflects well-rounded prosperity, encompassing both excellent material conditions as well as high levels of societal wellbeing.

In this first annual edition of the Index, we have limited the Index coverage to 50 countries for which relatively high-quality data on the drivers of both material wealth and life satisfaction are available. In future years, we will expand the number of countries as the data become available.

The most well-rounded countries, those at the top of the Index, are overwhelmingly European, with some representation for North America (the United States and Canada) and Asia-Pacific (New Zealand). The highest-ranked non-Western country in the Index is Singapore (ranked 13th).

There is a three-way tie for the top position, between Norway, Sweden, and the United States. This is a reminder that on such a broad measure of prosperity, no country scores well in every area, and even the best-performing countries have room to improve.

Norway’s top ranking is an extraordinary achievement, given its natural resource wealth and the frequent corruption and violence that accompanies this in many parts of the Middle East and Africa. Norway is not by most measures the most business-friendly country in our study, nor the most innovative, yet the competent management of the proceeds from its North Sea oil reserves has fostered a pace of longterm economic growth that is among the highest in the industrialised world. Norway also has a high Life Satisfaction score, based on excellent health, high incomes, and a sound democracy. Perhaps Norway’s success in capitalising on its geological good fortune can serve as inspiration to the many other countries where natural resource wealth has too often encouraged clannish competition and corruption rather than collaboration and investment.

Sweden may not perform as well economically, with levels of investment that lag the world leaders and somewhat excessive bureaucracy. However, Sweden’s level of achievement on most social indicators is exceptionally high, with sound political and civil liberties, superb health, and high incomes. Swedes also make some good social choices. They report strong community bonds, as measured by their selfreported levels of trust in other citizens. (This tends to be fostered by active social and political organisations -- so-called “social capital”.) Swedes have also achieved excellent equality of opportunity, measured by the degree to which women achieve high political office.

The United States is well known for its unique social and political culture. Unusually for a rich country, the US maintains high levels of religious faith, and people with strong religious faith tend, other things being equal, to report higher average levels of life satisfaction. US citizens also report themselves exceptionally secure in their ability to make free choices and control their own lives. High scores on these factors are not unique to the United States. New Zealand and Canada report high levels of free choice; many countries in Latin America and the Muslim world report high levels of religious faith. However, only the US combines high levels of religious faith and freedom of choice with good scores in other areas of material wealth and life satisfaction.

Prosperity Remains a Dream for Many

This very broad look at prosperity identifies a good deal of diversity even among the top-performing countries -- particularly in the determinants of life satisfaction. The diversity is even greater across the 50 countries we rate, however. While no country has poor scores in every category, Zimbabwe comes closest. While its people maintain a strong religious faith, this does not make up for extreme ill health: unemployment, and high divorce rates.

The other countries near the bottom include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, and India, although complete data are not available on every country in the world (particularly the poorest and most unstable), so there are certainly many countries that would rank below these. India’s low position in the rankings is perhaps surprising. Yet India’s vibrant society and Indians’ oft-noted spiritual strength cannot make up for an extreme deficiency in health, as evaluated by the country’s “health-adjusted life expectancy”, a measure of longevity that also reflects the presence of debilitating disease. This is the second strongest determinant of life satisfaction across countries and India has one of the three lowest values in our study.

India’s long-term economic growth is also well below potential, as a result of the very high costs of bureaucracy, poor education, and an economy that restricts foreign investment. However, India has recently registered improvements in each of these areas, unleashing a mini economic boom. Given the country’s strong democracy, the potential for significant further improvement remains within reach if a political and public consensus can be sustained.