The Rising Significance of Social Progress Index

A country can  economically progress only if the people living in that country are happy and satisfied with their lives. They will be able to concentrate on their work and put in their 100% only if their social and environmental needs are being provided upon. This is where ‘Social Progress Index’ (SPI) comes into play. It is a measure of the well-being of society. . The index is published by the nonprofit Social Progress Imperative. SPI is largely based on three broad dimensions. They are:

(i) Basic Human Needs
It is further classified into: (a) Nutrition and Basic Medical Care (b) Water and Sanitation (c) Shelter (d) Personal Safety
(ii) Foundations of Well-Being
It is categorized into: (a) Access to Basic Knowledge (b) Access to Information and Communications (c) Health and Wellness (d) Economic Sustainability
(iii) Opportunity
It is further classified into: (a) Personal Rights (b) Personal Freedom and Choice (c) Tolerance and Inclusion (c) Access to Advanced Education

According to the results of the Social Progress Index 2015, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Iceland and New Zealand are the top 5 countries in terms of social progress. India ranks 102nd on SPI. Economists measure the progress of a country through Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But, Michael Green, CEO of Social Progress Imperative differs from this notion. He points out that one shouldn’t judge a country by its GDP. As the findings of the SPI 2015 indicate, many resource-rich countries like Kuwait lag behind in SPI as compared to GDP. Some of the most interesting results to support this claim are that even though Norway(88.36) and New Zealand(87.08) have almost the same SPI, the GDP per capita of New Zealand is half of that of Norway. Ghana does better on SPI than Nigeria , even though it has lower GDP. Even USA is considered as an underachiever. Despite of the fact that it is considered as the superpower of the world, it rank 16th on SPI. Therfore, SPI is vital for the development of a nation as social, economic and environmental progress of a nation go hand-in-hand. Economic development of a country is necessary but we can’t base the progress and success of a particular country on that factor alone.

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