The Social Progress Index rigorously measures country performance on a wide range of aspects of social and environmental performance, which are relevant for countries at all levels of economic development. It enables an assessment of not just absolute country performance but relative performance compared to a country’s economic peers. Governments and businesses have the tools to track social and environmental performance rigorously, and make better public policy and investment choices.

The Social Progress Index also assesses a country’s success in turning economic progress into improved social outcomes; it helps translate economic gains into better social and environmental performance in ways that are critical to enabling even greater economic success. The Social Progress Index provides a concrete framework for understanding and then prioritizing an action agenda, advancing both social and economic performance.

Key findings

• The world’s top performer on the Social Progress Index is Denmark. All fi ve Nordic countries are in the Very High Social Progress Tier, but the top performers on social progress also include nonNordic countries that have much larger and more diverse populations such as Canada, Netherlands, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Canada is the best performing G7 country.
• Four G7 countries with signifi cant wealth (the United States, Japan, France, Italy) achieve only the second tier of High Social Progress; two middleincome countries achieve the same level of social progress (Argentin a and Costa Rica).
• Among the five BRICS countries with emerging economies, Brazil performs the best, but India is showing marked improvement. India has moved into the Lower Middle Social Progress tier, ahead of Bangladesh and Pakistan, and nearing China.
• Many Lower Middle Social Progress Tier countries are performing strongly compared to countries with similar income, including Nepal and Senegal, which have made great strides in governance and health.
• All countries show areas in need of improvement. Some countries may perform well on an absolute basis, but show relative weaknesses when compared to countries at a similar level of GDP per capita.