The Czech Republic ranks 26th in the world in a quality of life index highest quality of life, according to the latest release of the Social Progress Index (SPI).
Of the new EU member states, only Slovenia finished higher, in 22nd place.
According to the 2017 SPI only Norway offers its people a higher standard of living. Iceland has moved up one spot since the last ranking in 2016. The SPI ranks 146 countries worldwide, using 51 different metrics which measure different aspects of the quality of life of ordinary people.
A better way to measure economic performance
The Social Progress Index focuses on measures which measure the quality of life and permits us to see how well societies do at turning economic growth into positive social outcomes which matter to ordinary people.
Research has also shown that countries that do well at turning growth into socially positive incomes perform better, economically, over the long term.
The scorecard highlights a country’s relative strengths and relative weaknesses compared to 15 peer countries with a similar GDP per capita.
Michael Green, CEO of the Social Progress Imperative, has said that there are two sets of problems in the world. The first are tangible and are already being addressed—nutrition, sanitation, and education.
The second type are unsolved—environmental policies, health, wellness, tolerance, inclusion—and they have no correlation to financial prosperity. The SPI aims to solve the second category of problems by encouraging world leaders to look at social problems, as well as economic problems.
In other words, stronger economies have no real value if they don’t translate into a better quality of life.
Author: red
