Indians beat Chinese at prosperity game

India fares better in overall prosperity, despite weak economic indicators, and is ranked 45th in the world, ahead of China’s 75th rank,
according to indices compiled by global think tank, Legatum Institute. The composite prosperity index is compiled based on nine parameters, including factors such as economic fundamentals, environment for entrepreneurship and innovation, access to quality education, democratic institutions, governance, health, personal freedom, social capital and security. The index ranks world’s 104 countries, covering 90% of the world’s population. Finland tops the Index, followed by Switzerland, Sweden, and Denmark; the United States is 9th and the United Kingdom is 13th. India is ranked 5th on measures of social capital, which reflects among others, the percentage of citizens who volunteer, give charity, help strangers, and who feel they can rely on family and friends. In this area, India is ahead of Finland, the US, and the UK which occupy the sixth, seventh and the 11th spot, respectively. India has outperformed China on several economic indicators as it performed well in the critical non-economic factors, such as personal freedom which encompasses freedom of speech and religion, national tolerance for immigrants and ethnic and racial minorities, for which India ranks 47th globally compared with China’s 91st place. “Although, China outperforms India on several economic indicators, India is 30 places higher in the final rankings because of China’s poor levels of personal freedom and democracy,” said William Inboden, senior vice-president of the Legatum Institute. “However, there are some areas of concern for India, particularly in the quality of healthcare and education for which India ranks 88th and 86th, respectively,” concluded Mr Inboden. Interestingly, Austria tops the list as far as health as a parameter is concerned, according to Legatum. While Norway tops the ranking in education, personal freedom and social security, New Zealand tops social capital ranking. While Switzerland tops the rankings for democratic institutions, Hong Kong tops economic fundamentals’ ranking. The United States tops the entrepreneurship and innovation ranking. Denmark, on the other hand, tops in governance.
BY:ASIM SINGHAL
PGDM IIIrd SEM.