Despite strong rankings for governance and economy, India is dragged down by poor performance in health, social capital and entrepreneurship.
According to the newly published 2010 Legatum Prosperity Index, India fell by ten places in the rankings, down to 88th since last year, primarily due to a drop in personal freedom coupled with poor rankings on measures of health and entrepreneurship.
The Prosperity Index presents a broad view of wealth, happiness and prospects of the world’s nations and citizens captured in eight sub-indexes from personal freedom to the economy. Covering 110 countries (over 90% of the world’s population), the Prosperity Index stands out in reinforcing the idea that material wealth alone does not make for a happy society. Happy citizens are produced as much by democracy, freedom, social cohesion and entrepreneurial opportunity as they are by a growing economy.
The two measures on which India ranks highest are the Economy (44th) and Governance (41st). Both scores are high partly as a result of high levels of public optimism: three-quarters of Indian citizens approve of the government, which is the 16th highest rate globally, and 87%* express confidence in India’s financial institutions, placing the country fifth in the world on this measure.
However, these do not mitigate India’s poor performance on the measures of Education (for which it ranks 89th in the Index), Health (95th), Entrepreneurship and Opportunity (93rd), and Social Capital (105th). The prosperity Index finds that India has extremely poor healthcare, failing to prevent systemic diseases or malnourishment, it has a weak entrepreneurial infrastructure, a poorly developed education system, and extremely low levels of social capital.
China now ranks 30 places higher than India in the overall global rankings and outperforms India on the Economy sub-index, where China ranks 24th while India trails in 44th position; and in the Social Capital sub-index where China ranks 27th while India places only five spots from the bottom of the Index at 105th.
There are marked differences between the two countries’ performances on a number of key variables: 57% of the Chinese population believe they can trust others, the fifth highest value in the Index, while in India this value is only 21%. In China the unemployment rate is low at just 4%, while unemployment in India is relatively high at 7.2%.
Dr. Ashley Lenihan, Senior Fellow at the Legatum Institute said, “The Legatum Prosperity Index is the world’s only global assessment of wealth and wellbeing. It uses a holistic definition of prosperity, which includes factors ranging from economic growth to health and education, to personal freedom and governance.”
For media inquiries, please contact Nick Wood of Media Intelligence Partners Ltd on 07889 617003 or 0203 008 8146 or Alistair Thompson on 07970 162225 or 0203 008 8145.
Notes to editors:
Legatum Institute’s Prosperity Index 2010 is a global index that starts with a holistic definition of prosperity that includes material wealth and quality of life. Using rigorous research and in-depth analysis the index divides prosperity up into eight equally weighted Sub-Indexes, issues a score for each category and produces an average – which is used for a country’s final Prosperity Index ranking.
Breaking down the research into sub-categories enables the research team to look at each country in-depth and discover prosperity trends.
The sub-categories are:
- Economy - Which factors in a nation’s economy lead to higher levels of per capita income? Which economic conditions promote confidence and lead to higher levels of wellbeing?
- Entrepreneurship & Opportunity – What are the characteristics of a society that encourage citizens to be entrepreneurial, risk-taking, and seek opportunities that lead to higher levels of income and wellbeing?
- Governance – What are the government institutions and types of government functions that lead to growth in per capita income and higher levels of wellbeing?
- Education – Which aspects of an educational system contribute to growth in per capita income through their contribution to human capital, and which elements in a learning environment lead to higher levels of wellbeing?
- Health – What are the health-related factors in a society that are necessary for higher levels of per capita income and wellbeing?
- Safety & Security – How does the personal safety of citizens and the national security of a nation create conditions for growth in per capita income and higher levels of wellbeing?
- Personal Freedom – In what way does the guaranteed right to speak, assemble, think, and worship also promote higher levels of income and wellbeing?
- Social Capital. – What kinds of social networks, relationships, and institutions lead to higher levels of wellbeing and economic productivity?
Each of the sub-indexes provides us with two important analyses: first, an economic assessment and second, an assessment of a country’s subjective wellbeing, or happiness.
Most people would intuitively agree that “prosperity” is not just about money but also about quality of life. The Prosperity Index is the first global index that provides an empirical basis for this belief. As well as being interested in how a country promotes economic development and growth the Prosperity Index also seeks to find out how subjective measures, such as how citizens feel about their own lives and their prospects for the future, affect a country’s economic growth. It finds that successful countries enjoy a “virtuous cycle” of economic liberty and growth, political freedom and good governance, and enterprising and happy citizens, which mutually reinforce each other on the path to prosperity.
Rather than replicating other measurements that rank countries by their actual levels of wealth, life satisfaction, or development, the Prosperity Index produces rankings based on the foundations of prosperity. These are the factors that help drive economic growth or produce happy citizens in a given country.
Methodology
The 2010 Prosperity Index used the Gallup World Poll Service © and Gallup World Poll Data to gather an accurate picture of public opinion of prosperity in each of the 110 countries surveyed.
The 2010 Prosperity Index also used the assistance of Oxford Analytica, an independent consultancy that has for 30 years provided authoritative analysis of geopolitical events.
The 2010 Prosperity Index utilised other helpful indexes such as the Wall Street Journal/Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom, the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, the Global Peace Index, the World Bank Governance Indicators, the Human Development Index and the Freedom House Freedom in the World Report.
The Prosperity Index identifies 89 variables that are linked to higher levels of income and wellbeing and categorises them into eight sub-indexes, each of which is considered to be a fundamental pillar of prosperity. While each country’s path to prosperity is varied, decades of established theoretical and empirical research on economic growth and wellbeing have identified some common themes.
The 2009 Prosperity Index featured nine sub-indexes, two of which (essentially) measured income and wellbeing dimensions of governance. Due to limitation in data availability, the other seven sub-indexes only measured how each sub-index related to either income or wellbeing.
For the 2010 Index, due to increased data availability, Legatum Institute were able to include additional variables that enabled each sub-index to include both income and wellbeing dimensions. However, with the 2010 Prosperity Index, a comparison of the previous year’s Index is included. So that there can be an “apples to apples” comparison, there is a chart using the 2010 methodology to reproduce rankings for 2009.
About the Legatum Institute
The Prosperity Index is the signature annual report of the Legatum Institute and is central to our ongoing inquiry into the nature of prosperity and pathways of successful countries. The Legatum Institute is a London-based global think tank that promotes political, economic, and individual liberty around the globe, with a special focus on developing and transitioning countries.
The 2010 Legatum Prosperity Index is based on statistical analysis of more than 40 years of data for more than 100 countries worldwide, produced and supervised by the Legatum Institute, with input from the research consultancy Oxford Analytica, Gallup World Poll Service © and a panel of respected academic advisors in the fields of economics, history, development, sociology, and political science.
Further information about the Legatum Institute and the 2010 Prosperity Index can be found at: www.li.com and www.prosperity.com
