Our World in 2017

The Status of Social Progress

2

Simon Kuznets

3

4th January 1934: The Kuznets Report

4

Digitized for FRASER

http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Kuznets’ Warning

“The welfare of a

nation can,

therefore, scarcely

be inferred from a

measurement of

national income as

defined above.”

5

Social Progress Index component-level framework

6

Unique design principles

7

Realizing the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals

The Social Progress Index captures outcomes related to 16 of the 17 SDGs in a

simple but rigorous framework designed for aggregation, making it an invaluable proxy

measure of SDG performance, particularly for areas where official indicators do not exist

The world average score is 64.85

But progress is uneven

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World performance on the Social Progress Index and component scores

The world average score rose from 63.19 in 2014 to 64.85 in 2017 – a 2.6% increase

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World performance on the Social Progress Index and component scores

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The world continues to improve areas that were the top focus of the UN Millennium Development Goals

Nutrition and Basic Medical Care, Access to Basic Knowledge, and Water

and Sanitation average scores decline

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Personal Rights most declined in political rights and freedom of expression

Number of countries improving and declining - 2014 to 2017

Tolerance and Inclusion varies but too many countries show increases in intolerance for immigrants, discrimination against minorities

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Number of countries improving and declining - 2014 to 2017

2017 Social

Progress Index

Results

13

2017 Social

Progress Index

Results

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15

If the world were a country it would rank between Indonesia and Botswana on the 2017 Social Progress Index

The world average score 64.85

15

AmericasUS and Canada have shown no

significant improvement since 2014

with both declining in Tolerance and

Inclusion

Costa Rica, Chile, and Uruguay

lead Latin American countries on

social progress, with steady but small

advancement over time

Performance is mixed among the

rest of Latin America, with some

countries improving over time, many

staying nearly the same, and

Nicaragua and El Salvador trending

worse

16

European UnionNewer European Union (EU) member

states (EU13) have made impressive

gains on social progress since

2014, except Hungary

But overall EU performance has been

pulled down by setbacks on

Tolerance and Inclusion in many of

these same countries

Tolerance and Inclusion has markedly

decreased in Hungary, Latvia,

Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia

17

Asia and the PacificSoutheast Asia is improving, but

slowly

Only five countries have improved by

more than a point since 2014:

Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan,

and Myanmar

Australia and New Zealand are in

the top 10 countries globally

Both countries have seen consistent

performance since 2014 with

moderate improvement in Personal

Safety largely driven by a reduction in

violent crime

18

AfricaNorth Africa shows general

improvement

Sub-Saharan Africa comprises

some of the lowest-performing

countries in the world on social

progress, but Nigeria and Ethiopia

are making impressive headway

Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and

Mozambique are at a standstill

Central African Republic, the lowest

performing country in the world on

social progress, is only getting worse

19

0K 5K 10K 15K 20K 25K 30K 35K 40K 45K 50K 55K 60K 65K 70K

20

40

60

80

100

Yemen

Uruguay

TurkeyRussia

Portugal

Peru

Norway

Nigeria

New Zealand Netherlands

Montenegro

Mongolia

Mexico Malaysia

Laos

Japan

Jamaica

Italy

Iran

IndiaGhana

Germany

Georgia

Denmark

Czech Republic

Cyprus

Croatia

Congo, Republic of

Chile

Central African Republic

Canada

Cameroon

Brazil

Bolivia

Azerbaijan

Austria

Argentina

Afghanistan

United States

United KingdomSwitzerland

Saudi Arabia

Niger

Kuwait

Israel

Ireland

France

Costa Rica

Angola

Social Progress Index vs GDP per capita

VE

RY

HIG

H

HIG

H

U

PP

ER

M

IDD

LE

LO

WE

R

MID

DLE

LOW

VE

RY

LOW

2017

Soci

al P

rogre

ss In

dex

Sco

res

Socia

l Pro

gre

ss Index T

iers

GDP per capita, PPP (constant 2011 international $)

GDP is not

destiny

Across the

spectrum, we see

how some

countries are

much better at

turning their

economic

growth into

social progress

than others

20

Social Progress Index vs GDP per capita

210K 5K 10K 15K 20K 25K 30K 35K 40K 45K 50K 55K 60K 65K 70K

GDP PPP per capita

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

So

cia

l P

rog

ress I

nd

ex

CRI

ITA

AFG

AGO

ARG

ARM

AUT

AZE

BEN

BGR

BLRBOL

CAF

CAN CHE

CHL

CHN

CMR

COL

CYP

CZE

DEU

DNK

DOM

EGY

ESP

ETH

FIN

FRA

GBR

GHA

GIN

GRC

HND

HUN

IDN

IND

IRL

IRN

ISR

JAM

KAZKGZ

KWT

MDA

MEX

MMR

MNE

MNG

MUS

MYS

NGA

NORNZL

PAK

PER

PRT

RUSSAU

SEN

SVK

TUR

URY

USA

YEM

ZAF

CRI-ITA

In / Out of Costa Rica-ItalyIn

Out

In / Out of Costa Rica-ItalyIn

Out

GDP PPP per capita vs. Social Progress Index. Color shows details about In / Out of Costa Ri-ca-Italy. Size shows details about In / Out of Costa Rica-Italy. The marks are labeled by Pub-lish Code.

Costa Ricavs Italy

22

Turkey vs Uruguay

23

Chile vs Kazakhstan

0K 5K 10K 15K 20K 25K 30K 35K 40K 45K 50K 55K 60K 65K 70K

GDP PPP per capita

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

So

cia

l P

rog

ress I

ndex

CHL

RUS

AFG

AGO

ARG

ARM

AUT

AZE

BEN

BGR

BLRBOL

CAF

CAN CHE

CHN

CMR

COL

CRICYP

CZE

DEU

DNK

DOM

EGY

ESP

ETH

FIN

FRA

GBR

GHA

GIN

HND

HUN

IDN

IND

IRL

IRN

ISR

ITA

JAM

JPN

KAZKGZ

KOR

KWT

MDA

MEX

MMR

MNG

MYS

NGA

NORNZL

PAK

PAN

PER

PRT

ROU

SAU

SEN

SVK

TUR

URY

USA

ZAF

RUS-CHL

In / Out of Russia-ChileIn

Out

In / Out of Russia-ChileIn

Out

GDP PPP per capita vs. Social Progress Index. Color shows details about In / Out of Russia-Chile. Size shows details about In / Out of Russia-Chile. The marks are labeled by Publish Code.

240K 5K 10K 15K 20K 25K 30K 35K 40K 45K 50K 55K 60K 65K 70K

GDP PPP per capita

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

So

cia

l P

rog

ress I

ndex

PRTUSA

AFG

AGO

ARG

ARM

AUT

AZE

BEN

BGR

BLRBOL

CAF

CAN CHE

CHL

CHN

CMR

COL

CRICYP

CZE

DEU

DNK

DOM

EGY

ESP

ETH

FIN

FRA

GBR

GHA

GIN

GRC

HND

HUN

IDN

IND

IRL

IRN

ISR

ITA

JAM

JPN

KAZKGZ

KOR

KWT

MDA

MEX

MMR

MNG

MYS

NGA

NORNZL

PAK

PAN

PERROU

RUSSAU

SEN

SVK

TUR

URY

ZAF

USA-PRT

In / Out of US-PortugalIn

Out

In / Out of US-PortugalIn

Out

GDP PPP per capita vs. Social Progress Index. Color shows details about In / Out of US-Portugal.Size shows details about In / Out of US-Portugal. The marks are labeled by Publish Code.

Portugalvs US

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Over-performing countries by income group

Ove

r-P

erf

orm

ers

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Under-performing countries by income group

Un

de

r-P

erf

orm

ers

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On social progress, Costa Rica over-performs relative to its wealth

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While the US under-performs relative to its wealth

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On social progress, the world as a whole under-performs relative to its wealth