10 Best Countries for Social Progress in 2013 According to Index

As a born and bred Canadian I find it interesting to learn how our great nation compares on a global scale and have written about many rankings that have delved into areas like the best countries to live, the smartest countries, the happiest countries, the  most peaceful countries, the most sustainable countries, the friendliest countries, the most charitable countries, the most prosperous countries, the best countries for quality of life, the Best Countries for Business in 2013, the top 20 countries for life expectancy at birth, the best countries for working women, the best country for World Travel & Tourism, the 15 best countries for human development, the top countries for Clean Capitalism and the best country for child well-being in rich countries. Today I’m adding to this list with the 10 best countries from The Social Progress Index released by The Social Progress Imperative.

This is the inaugural edition of this report which defines social progress as “the capacity of a society to meet the basic human needs of its citizens, establish the building blocks that allow citizens and communities to enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and create the conditions for all individuals to reach their full potential.”

Covering 50 countries, The Social Progress Index “allows individual countries to identify specific areas of strength or weakness in terms of social progress, and also allows countries to benchmark themselves against peer countries both at the level of individual indicators as well as in terms of an aggregate measure of social progress.”

The methodology used to compile this data was extensive but its “framework is composed of three main dimensions: Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing, and Opportunity.” These dimensions were then broken down into four components containing various levels and when all combined “summarizes an interrelated set of factors that capture the primary dimensions upon which a society can achieve a given level of social progress.” Based on this research, the 10 best countries according to The Social Progress Index are:

1. Sweden. Social Progress Index score 64.81. Sweden’s highest ranking was 2nd in Opportunity and its lowest was 5th in Basic Human Needs.
2. United Kingdom. Social Progress Index score 63.41. The UK’s highest ranking was 2nd in Foundations of Wellbeing and its lowest was 6th in Basic Human Needs.
3. Switzerland. Social Progress Index score 63.28. Switzerland’s highest ranking was 1st in Foundations of Wellbeing and its lowest was 7th in Opportunity.
4. Canada. Social Progress Index score 62.63. Canada’s highest ranking was 3rd in Basic Human Needs and its lowest was 11th in Foundations of Wellbeing.
5. Germany. Social Progress Index score 62.47. Germany’s highest ranking was 2nd in Basic Human Needs and its lowest was 10th in Opportunity.
6. United States. Social Progress Index score 61.56. USA’s highest ranking was 1st in Opportunity and its lowest was 16th in Foundations of Wellbeing.
7. Australia. Social Progress Index score 61.26. Australia’s highest ranking was 3rd in Opportunity and its lowest was 15th in Foundations of Wellbeing.
8. Japan. Social Progress Index score 61.01. Japan’s highest ranking was 1st in Basic Human Needs and its lowest was 15th in Opportunity.
9. France. Social Progress Index score 60.70. France’s highest ranking was 5th in Foundations of Wellbeing and its lowest was 11th in Opportunity.
10. Spain. Social Progress Index score 60.43. Spain’s highest ranking was 6th in Opportunity and its lowest was 12th in Basic Human Needs.

It’s interesting to learn how countries score in each individual component and seeing how those with similar GDP don’t necessarily have similar levels of social progress. The valuable information contained in The Social Progress Index details exactly where countries can improve when it comes to the social freedoms of its citizens.

____________________________________________________________________________________

For nonprofit, CSR business, Canada and other news, please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin or subscribe to our RSS feed. Miratel Solutions is a Canada call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values and advancing the missions of the non-profits we proudly serve.