10 happiest, healthiest and wealthiest countries in the world – and the one area where SA beat them all last year
London-based research firm, the Legatum Institute, has released its 11th edition of the Prosperity Index, illustrating how countries around the world have moved toward or away from prosperity over the last year.
In compiling the index, the Legatum Institute looked at over 104 different variables across nine major pillars including:
- Economic Quality
- Business Environment
- Governance
- Personal Freedom
- Social Capital
- Safety and Security
- Education
- Health
- The Natural Environment
This year’s Index shows that global prosperity now sits at its highest level since 2007, in spite of significant international turbulence. This is simply because more countries have seen improvements than those that haven’t, while poorer regions of the world have also advanced.
This year Norway was ranked first beating New Zealand in second place. European (and especially Nordic/Scandinavian countries) make up the majority of the top ten, with New Zealand, Canada and Australia the only countries not based in the EU.
South Africa
South Africa dropped four places, from 48th in 2016 to 52nd in 2017, despite sub-Saharan Africa as a whole seeing a general increase in prosperity.
A key part of this drop was the continued issue of safety and security where South Africa was only surpassed by Niger over the past year.
The index noted that 31 nations in sub-Saharan Africa actually saw a decline in this area (primarily because of a decrease in battlefield deaths), while South Africa’s poor ranking is almost entirely because of its high crime rate.
Other areas of concern were the country’s basic physical and mental health, health infrastructure and preventative care (121st) and the country’s unstable economy (93rd).
However it’s not all doom and gloom – as South Africa saw a dramatic strengthening in its national business environment.
“A strong business environment provides an entrepreneurial climate, enabling new ideas and opportunities to be pursued, which leads to more wealth and greater social wellbeing,” the Legatum Institute said.
In particular, no other country in the world saw as large an improvement in its business infrastructure over the last year than South Africa. This includes infrastructure that enables market
access for individuals and firms,transport/logistics, utilities and communications.
The index said that this increase was due to reduced electricity connection costs, increased broadband subscriptions and a major improvements in the country’s logistics environment.
Read: Time to upgrade South Africa’s credit rating: analysts
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