Thread: Happiness is living in .............

The Legatum Prosperity Index uses a holistic definition of prosperity to include both material wealth and
quality of life. The Index finds that the most prosperous nations in the world are not necessarily those
that have only a high GDP, but are those that also have happy, healthy, and free citizens. Now in its third
year, the Index builds on the previous versions with expanded data and refined analysis and assesses 104
nations covering 90 percent of the world’s population by their performance in nine fundamental areas: :

• Economic Fundamentals
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• Democratic Institutions
• Education
• Health
• Safety and Security
• Governance
• Personal Freedom
• Social Capital

Each of these nine factors has been identified through extensive research as a key building block of
prosperity. Each corresponds to a sub-index. A country’s position in the overall Prosperity Index is
produced by averaging its 9 sub-index scores. The scores are then ranked to produce the overall ranking.


Key Rankings:


Top Twenty Countries:

1. Finland
2. Switzerland
3. Sweden
4. Denmark
5. Norway
6. Australia
7. Canada
8. Netherlands
9. United States
10. New Zealand
11. Ireland
12. United Kingdom
13. Belgium
14. Germany
15. Austria
16. Japan
17. France
18. Hong Kong
19. Spain
20. Slovenia


Bottom Twenty Countries

85. Belarus
86. Lebanon
87. Bangladesh
88. Egypt
89. Zambia
90. Nepal
91. Mozambique
92. Uzbekistan
93. Cambodia
94. Iran
95. Kenya
96. Algeria
97. Tanzania
98. Nigeria
99. Pakistan
100. Cameroon
101. Central African Republic
101. Yemen
103. Sudan
104. Zimbabwe

All successful countries demonstrate several common attributes, with the top ten scoring especially high
on:
¾ Positive effect of good governance on quality of life and economic issues
¾ High overall levels of life satisfaction
¾ Level of personal freedom experienced by the citizenry
¾ Strong overall economic performance


Key Findings

What does the Prosperity Index tell us? Its value is found not only in its global rankings but also in what
it can tell us about how prosperity is created. The following are ten key findings of the Prosperity Index:

1. Prosperous countries are strong across the board. Prosperous countries which lead the Index do well
in all nine sub-indexes, indicating that the foundations of prosperity reinforce each other.

2. Entrepreneurs at the micro level need good economic policies at the macro level. Innovation and
entrepreneurship are more strongly related to economic fundamentals than any other factor in a society.
Aspiring entrepreneurs will often hit a “ceiling” limiting their success if a nation’s economy is not
fundamentally strong.

3. Happiness is...opportunity, good health, relationships, and the freedom to choose who you want to
be. The highest levels of overall life satisfaction are reported in countries which score best in the areas of
health, safety, personal freedom, and social capital.

4. Prosperity is concentrated in the north Atlantic – for now. Sixteen of the top 20 most prosperous
countries sit in North America and Europe.

5. History is not destiny. Highly-ranked nations include those with a long history of productive
economies, effective, and limited government, and social capital – but also several others that not long
ago were afflicted with poverty, oppression, and unhappiness.

6. Good governance is central to life satisfaction and economic progress. Countries in which sound
governance creates satisfied citizens are also the most likely to have the healthiest economic
fundamentals and the most entrepreneurial societies.

7. Prosperity means Security. Security and safety function as both a cause and effect of overall
prosperity. A secure nation enables its citizens to flourish without fear of attack or harm, and prosperous
citizens provide the financial resources and social capital to maintain safety and security.

8. Freedom Cannot Be Divided. While some nations seek to allow one aspect of freedom while restricting
other aspects, prosperous nations respect freedom in all of its dimensions: economic, political, religious,
and personal.

9. Strong Communities Are Better than Weak Governments. Some countries with ineffective
governments still score well on social capital, indicating that healthy networks of families and friends
play an essential role in helping a nation function.

10. It’s true that money can’t buy happiness...unless you are poor. Only in the poorest countries do
increases in income have a significant effect on people’s life satisfaction.