The Social Progress Index is a new metric that measures progress through fulfillment of basic human needs rather than traditional indicators of economic growth.
The index, designed by a team led by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter, ranks countries on social and environmental measures that underline wellbeing and opportunity.
“The Social Progress Index shows that countries with similar levels of GDP can have very different levels of social progress,” Michael Green, Executive Director of the Social Progress Imperative, said.
One example: The U.S. leads OECD nations in total spending per capita on health care, but ranks only 11th of the 16 OECD countries in the Social Progress Index on health and wellness.
NOTE: There are several notable exceptions to the list of countries examined for the list, including the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Singapore, and New Zealand.