This is the true value of being South African
Residence and citizenship planning group Henley & Partners has released its latest Quality of Nationality Index (QNI), showing the value of being South African, versus other nationalities in the world.
According to H&P, the QNI measures more than the simple quality of a country, focusing on the opportunities and limitations that our nationalities impose on us.
The QNI measures both the internal value of nationality – which refers to the quality of life within a nationality’s country of origin – and the external value of nationality, which identifies the diversity and quality of opportunities that nationalities allow us to pursue outside our countries of origin.
“The reality that the QNI describes is in many respects regrettable: in the absolute majority of circumstances our nationality plays an important role in establishing a highly irrational ceiling for our opportunities and aspirations, reflecting the core aspect of being a national of some place, which is a random act of birth boasting no correlation with any person’s achievements, ideas, feelings and desires,” the group said.
Internally, the QNI looks at how successful the country is in terms of human development, economic prosperity and stability and peace.
External factors look at home nationalities allow its holders to travel all around the world unobstructed, or make tourist and business travel dependent on acquiring endless visas.
In the assessment South Africa is described as a “medium quality” nationality, ranked 89th overall the lowest position for the nation in the 5 years the index has been running.
South Africa performs strongest in the fields of human development , stability and peace and diversity of travel freedom, but fall apart in pretty much every other category.
The country’s overall score is 30.0%, which is 0.2 percentage points down from its 2014 position. The highest score South Africa has achieved is 30.5% in 2012, showing that the country has done little to deviate from this position.
Highest and lowest quality nationalities in the world
The table below shows the highest and lowest ranked nationalities in the world, according to H&P.
| # | Country | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | 83.1% |
| 2 | Denmark | 83.0% |
| 3 | Finland | 82.0% |
| 4 | Norway | 81.7% |
| 5 | Iceland | 81.6% |
| 5 | Sweden | 81.6% |
| 6 | Austria | 81.0% |
| 6 | Ireland | 81.0% |
| 7 | France | 80.9% |
| 8 | Switzerland | 80.7% |
| 89 | South Africa | 30.0% |
| 152 | Syria | 17.3% |
| 153 | Pakistan | 17.1% |
| 154 | Ethiopia | 17.0% |
| 155 | Chad | 16.8% |
| 156 | Burundi | 16.7% |
| 157 | Sudan | 16.1% |
| 158 | Eritrea | 15.9% |
| 159 | Central African Republic | 15.3% |
| 160 | Afghanistan | 14.4% |
| 161 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 14.3% |
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