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The Guardian - UK

World

Ami Sedghi

Global prosperity index 2012: how do countries compare?

The US have dropped out of the top ten of the global prosperity rankings for the first time with the latest findings recording a weakening performance across five of the index's eight sub-categories.

Legatum Institute's prosperity index, now in its sixth year, assesses global wealth and wellbeing and benchmarks 142 countries around the world in eight categories: economy, education, entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, health, personal freedom, safety and security and social capital.

So what do the latest prosperity rankings show us? Scandinavian countries Norway, Denmark and Sweden take first, second and third on the index with Australia and New Zealand coming in fourth and fifth respectively.

Overall prosperity in Europe has increased - the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany have seen their positions rise and are now ranked at eighth, tenth and 14th place respectively. Despite overall prosperity increasing, more than two thirds of European countries have recorded a decline in the score for the economy sub-category since 2009.

The drop for the US in the rankings has come at a crucial time according to Jeffrey Gedmin, President and CEO of the Legatum Institute:

"As the US struggles to reclaim the building blocks of the American Dream, now is a good time to consider who is best placed to lead the country back to prosperity and compete with the more agile countries that have pushed the US out of the top ten."

A drop in the economy sub-index has put the US at 20th place - far behind many of Asia's leading economies and Eurozone countries such as Germany. The UK economy is placed at 26th place coming in behind behind Kuwait and Ireland.

The rankings have placed:

• Norway top for the overall prosperity index
• Switzerland is number one for the economy sub-category
• Denmark have scored highest for entrepreneurship and opportunity
• Top spot for the governance sub-category goes to Switzerland
• Luxembourg is ranked number one for health
• The highest ranking country for safety and security is Iceland
• Canada score highest for the personal freedom sub-category
• Norway rank highest for social capital

Below is the table showing the overall prosperity index rankings by country from 2009 to 2012. Please note that the number of countries ranked has increased from 110 to 142 so there may not be data for all countries. The spreadsheet which you can download shows the rankings by sub-categories also.

Data summary

Global prosperity index, 2009-2012
country	2009	2010	2011	2012
Norway	1	1	1	1
Denmark	2	2	2	2
Sweden	7	6	5	3
Australia	5	4	3	4
New Zealand	3	5	4	5
Canada	6	7	6	6
Finland	4	3	7	7
Netherlands	11	9	9	8
Switzerland	8	8	8	9
Ireland	9	11	11	10
Luxembourg				11
United States	10	10	10	12
United Kingdom	13	13	13	13
Germany	16	15	15	14
Iceland	12	12	12	15
Austria	14	14	14	16
Belgium	15	16	17	17
Hong Kong	21	20	19	18
Singapore	17	17	16	19
Taiwan	22	22	20	20
France	18	19	18	21
Japan	19	18	21	22
Spain	20	23	23	23
Slovenia	23	21	22	24
Malta				25
Portugal	25	26	25	26
South Korea	29	27	24	27
Czech Republic	24	24	26	28
United Arab Emirates	27	30	27	29
Cyprus				30
Uruguay	32	28	29	31
Poland	28	29	28	32
Italy	26	25	30	33
Chile	35	32	31	34
Estonia	31	35	33	35
Slovak Republic	37	37	32	36
Costa Rica	30	33	34	37
Kuwait	34	31	35	38
Hungary	38	34	36	39
Israel	33	36	38	40
Argentina	44	41	39	41
Panama	42	40	37	42
Lithuania	40	42	44	43
Brazil	45	45	42	44
Malaysia	43	43	43	45
Kazakhstan	51	50	46	46
Latvia	41	47	51	47
Bulgaria	47	46	48	48
Greece	36	39	40	49
Croatia	39	38	41	50
Trinidad & Tobago	46	44	47	51
Saudi Arabia	57	49	49	52
Vietnam	50	61	62	53
Belarus	55	54	50	54
China	58	58	52	55
Thailand	54	52	45	56
Montenegro				57
Sri Lanka	68	59	63	58
Mongolia	60	60	60	59
Romania	48	51	58	60
Mexico	49	53	53	61
Jamaica	52	55	55	62
Indonesia	85	70	70	63
Uzbekistan	65	76	64	64
Belize	53	56	56	65
Russia	62	63	59	66
Philippines	61	64	66	67
Paraguay	69	67	57	68
Colombia	64	65	61	69
Botswana	59	57	67	70
Ukraine	63	69	74	71
Peru	72	73	68	72
Morocco	66	62	71	73
South Africa	67	66	69	74
Macedonia	70	72	76	75
Ecuador	77	77	83	76
Jordan	75	74	65	77
Tunisia	56	48	54	78
Serbia				79
Venezuela	76	75	73	80
Dominican Rep	71	68	72	81
Laos				82
Namibia	74	71	80	83
Moldova	83	86	79	84
Lebanon	90	84	82	85
Tajikistan				86
Ghana	89	90	78	87
Kyrgyzstan				88
Turkey	80	80	75	89
El Salvador	81	78	77	90
Nicaragua	73	87	86	91
Albania				92
Georgia				93
Azerbaijan				94
Bolivia	84	82	85	95
Honduras	79	85	87	96
Guatemala	82	81	84	97
Armenia				98
Bosnia				99
Algeria	91	79	88	100
India	78	88	91	101
Iran	93	92	97	102
Bangladesh	95	96	95	103
Mali	94	93	90	104
Malawi				105
Egypt	87	89	89	106
Cambodia	101	95	94	107
Nepal	88	91	93	108
Tanzania	96	97	96	109
Zambia	98	101	101	110
Rwanda	105	98	98	111
Burkina Faso				112
Syria	86	83	81	113
Niger				114
Cameroon	99	102	99	115
Kenya	97	104	102	116
Uganda	102	99	100	117
Senegal	92	94	92	118
Benin				119
Republic of Congo				120
Djibouti				121
Mauritania				122
Nigeria	103	106	104	123
Mozambique	104	103	103	124
Sudan	106	100	105	125
Cote d'Ivoire				126
Guinea				127
Sierra Leone				128
Angola				129
Liberia				130
Iraq				131
Pakistan	107	109	107	132
Ethiopia	108	107	108	133
Yemen	100	105	106	134
Zimbabwe	110	110	109	135
Togo				136
Burundi				137
Haiti				138
Chad				139
Afghanistan				140
Democratic Republic of the Congo				141
Central African Republic	109	108	110	142
Source: LEGATUM INSTITUTE