DUBAI: The Social Progress Index, a new index that ranks a group of 50 countries by their social and environmental performance, has put the UAE in 19th place.
Out of the 50 countries selected, five are from the Mena region: the UAE, Tunisia, Jordan, Morocco and Egypt.
The remaining Mena countries’ ranking was between the 25th and 40th percentile as follows: Tunisia 28th, Jordan 31st, Morocco 37th and Egypt 40th.
The Social Progress Index was designed by Professor Michael Porter and The Social Progress Imperative. This was done in collaboration with economists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and leading international organisations in social entrepreneurship, business, philanthropy, and academia including Deloitte, Cisco, Skoll Foundation, Fundación AVINA, and Compartamos Banco.
Among the 50 countries ranked by their social and environmental performance, Sweden is the most socially advanced country globally, with Britain as second, above Germany, which ranks fifth, the United States, sixth, and Japan, eighth.
The Social Progress Index is distinctive for being based entirely on social and environmental measures covering basic human needs, foundations of wellbeing and opportunity. The Index shows where nations should focus their efforts to improve the wellbeing of their people. It uses a rigorous statistical technique and the best available data from internationally recognised sources, including the World Bank and the World Health Organisation.
“Social progress depends on the policy choices, investments, and implementation capabilities of multiple stakeholders – government, civil society, and business. Action needs to be catalysed at a country level. By informing and motivating those stakeholders to work together and develop a more holistic approach to development, I am confident that social progress would accelerate,” said Professor Porter.
The United Arab Emirates performed the highest in several categories out of the five Mena countries included in the index. Its overall rank was 19th, 11th in Basic Human Needs, and 9th for Personal Safety.
The UAE also ranks 30th for Opportunity, which encompasses Personal Rights, Access to Higher Education and Personal Freedom and Choice.
Britain (2nd) and Sweden (1st) perform highly on the Social Progress Index when compared to their performance on the United Nations Human Development Index because they perform consistently across the three dimensions of social progress – basic needs, foundations of wellbeing and opportunity — whereas the United States is weaker on foundations of wellbeing and Germany and France are weaker on opportunity.
The Social Progress Index is the first project of the Social Progress Imperative as part of a wider set of initiatives to guide the investment and policy decisions of governments, the private sector, and civil society to have a positive impact on people’s lives.
Gulf Today
STAFF REPORTER
