Ireland still high in prosperity league

DESPITE our economic woes, Ireland still ranks among the top 10% of the most prosperous nations on earth.

We even beat Britain and are barely behind the US when it comes to a combination of economic and social well-being.

A study by the Legatum Institute, a British-based think-tank, ranks Ireland at number 11 of 110 countries in its 2010 Prosperity Index.

It shows that Scandinavian countries are by far the most prosperous when it comes to standard of living but they also rank highest for variables such as personal freedom and national governance.

Norway emerges as the most prosperous country of all.

Not only can it boast the world’s highest per capita gross domestic product of $53,000 (€38,400) a year but Norwegians have the second-highest level of satisfaction with their standards of living: 95% of people there say they are satisfied with the freedom to choose the direction of their lives while 74% say other people can be trusted.

Joining Norway in the top 10 prosperous countries are Denmark, Finland and Sweden, with other small nations like Switzerland and the Netherlands also included.

The Legatum Prosperity Index, now in its fourth year, draws its inspiration from a speech by the late Robert Kennedy when he derided the sole use of GDP as a sign of a country’s progress, saying that “it measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile”.

William Inboden of the Legatum Institute explains that the list is meant to broaden the thinking of both public and private individuals on the subject of what constitutes progress.

“Certainly it’s targeted at government officials, because a number of factors involved in it relate to government policy, such as respect for human rights, respect for economic freedom and trade freedom and the like.

“But also we try to aim this at business leaders, the media, and interested citizens.”

The survey, which brings together data from hundreds of statistical sources, covers 90% of the world’s population. To build its index Legatum gathers upward of a dozen international surveys done by the likes of the Gallup polling group, the Heritage Foundation and the World Economic Forum.

Each country is ranked on 89 variables sorted into eight subsections: economy, entrepreneurship, governance, education, health, safety, personal freedom and social capital.

“To use economic measurements alone to gauge the success of a nation would be equivalent to assessing the entire condition of a man simply by looking at his bank balance,” said Peter Mandelson, former British economic minister and the former Northern Ireland Secretary.

Well-being

1. Norway

2. Denmark

3. Finland

4. Australia

5. New Zealand

6. Sweden

7. Canada

8. Switzerland

9. Netherlands

10. United States

11. Ireland

12. Iceland

13. Britain

14. Austria

15. Germany