Date: 2024-12-26 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00016353
Economic Indicators
Social Progress Imperative (SPI)
Matthew Bishop ... America is tumbling backwards: Troubling new facts
Peter Burgess
NINE years into an economic recovery, and with unemployment at record lows, you might reasonably expect that the quality of life in America would be getting better. But you would be wrong.
America's GDP is bigger than ever, and per head is eighth highest on the planet, but in a new ranking of social progress in some 146 countries, the world's biggest economy has slipped to 25th in the world, from 18th last year. That decline is relative, but even more scarily, the USA is one of only six nations to have seen its quality-of-life score fall in absolute terms over the past five years - one of just six countries where progress has turned into regress, the others being Brazil, Mauritania, Thailand, Turkey and war-devastated Yemen. Moreover, its decline is broad-based, showing up in everything from health and wellness (on which its scores are now close to Ecuador's) and education (below Uzbekistan, and 50th in the world on access to basic knowledge) to personal safety (rising deaths on the roads), personal rights and inclusiveness (rising inequality and growing violence against minorities).
These are the latest findings of the Social Progress Index, the 2018 version of which has just been published. The SPI is based on 51 different measures of the things that make life worth living; each data set is recognised internationally for its robustness and reliability as a means of comparing one country with another. The complete results and detailed national scorecards can be read here. (Full disclosure: As I have written before, I am one of the cofounders of the index and sit on the board of the organisation that publishes it. The quality of its results are assured by a team of leading academic advisers, led by Professor Michael Porter of Harvard University and Scott Stern of MIT.)
Overall, globally this year's SPI paints a more mixed picture. There is still plenty of good news for those who see their glass half full, as well as more than usual to offer to those inclined to focus on its emptiness.
The good news is that overall the world is still getting better: social progress increased over the past year in 133 countries. Norway came top, narrowly ahead of Iceland and Switzerland. Japan was the leading big economy, in fifth place, followed by Germany in 9th and Britain 13th. More than 80% of low and lower middle-income countries have seen progress over the past five years. The biggest gains occurred in parts of Asia (Nepal) and Sub-Saharan Africa (The Gambia).
At the other end of the ranking, Central African Republic comes last, with Chad, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Democratic Republic of the Congo scoring little better.
Overall, much the most troubling finding is that on measures of inclusiveness and personal rights, it is not just America that is tumbling backwards; the world as a whole is.
Nearly half of the countries tracked by the SPI have seen individual rights curtailed to some degree since 2014. Over 50 countries are less inclusive societies today than they were in 2014. Sadly, the hard data show that all the talk of a growing global wave of intolerance is anything but fake news.