India slips 10 places on Global Prosperity Index
LONDON:India has slipped 10 places to rank 88th out of 110 on the 2010 Global Prosperity Index , created by the London-based Legatum Institute as a measure of “wealth and well-being”, lagging 30 spots behind a country like China .
The prosperity index is based on 89 variables over 110 countries, grouped into 8 sub-indices, and claims to comprehensively rank the level of prosperity in 110 countries by taking into account both economic growth and citizens' quality of life, drawing on data from various sources including the Gallup World Poll 2009 and UN development Report. The Institute said that
India’s ranking dropped from 2009 primarily due to a drop in personal freedom coupled with poor rankings on measures of health and entrepreneurship. That India ranks low on access to education and health is no surprise – the surprises are that it shows up way below the global average in the entrepreneurship and opportunity index, a key lever for prosperity, personal freedom, a well-educated workforce and is almost at the bottom in social capital, such as reliable family and social networks, helping strangers, or contributing to charity. While many of the conclusions of the index or methodology is open to debate, some of findings fly in the face of conventional wisdom.
Despite having the second highest rate of marriage globally, Indians can’t rely on family and social networks as much as the rest of the world can – less than two-thirds of people claim they can rely on family or friends in times of need, behind 105 other countries, almost at the bottom of the scale.
Only 21% of Indians feel that they can trust others, compared to 57% in China. While Indians are hugely optimistic about the economy, the surprise is that Indians approve of our government, ranking an international high 16 on this measure, and fifth highest for being confident about its financial institutions.
On the negative side, Indians are extremely pessimistic about the local entrepreneurial environment: amongst the lowest 15 countries on this Index – business start-up costs are a massive high at 66% of GNI per capita. Despite the tech sector, the index finds only 1.3% of goods exports come from the ICT sector, placing it at global rank of 59 on this variable — even though it does reasonably well in R&D spend.
The country invests 0.9% of its GDP in R&D, placing 47th and is among the top at 32 for royalty receipts from overseas. And no, according to the index, India does not have a well-educated workforce. The country places 91st for the average level of secondary education attained by workers, and 94th for the average level of tertiary education per worker.
Besides poor healthcare and failure to battle systemic diseases, a hefty 27% of Indians report debilitating health problems, and more than a third of people “feel worried for a significant part of the day.”
The Prosperity Index presents a broad view of wealth, happiness and prospects of the world's nations and citizens captured in eight sub-indexes. The idea behind the Index is that material wealth alone does not make for a happy society, but happy citizens are produced as much by democracy, freedom, social cohesion and entrepreneurial opportunity as they are by a growing economy.
The prosperity index is based on 89 variables over 110 countries, grouped into 8 sub-indices, and claims to comprehensively rank the level of prosperity in 110 countries by taking into account both economic growth and citizens' quality of life, drawing on data from various sources including the Gallup World Poll 2009 and UN development Report. The Institute said that
India’s ranking dropped from 2009 primarily due to a drop in personal freedom coupled with poor rankings on measures of health and entrepreneurship. That India ranks low on access to education and health is no surprise – the surprises are that it shows up way below the global average in the entrepreneurship and opportunity index, a key lever for prosperity, personal freedom, a well-educated workforce and is almost at the bottom in social capital, such as reliable family and social networks, helping strangers, or contributing to charity. While many of the conclusions of the index or methodology is open to debate, some of findings fly in the face of conventional wisdom.
Despite having the second highest rate of marriage globally, Indians can’t rely on family and social networks as much as the rest of the world can – less than two-thirds of people claim they can rely on family or friends in times of need, behind 105 other countries, almost at the bottom of the scale.
Only 21% of Indians feel that they can trust others, compared to 57% in China. While Indians are hugely optimistic about the economy, the surprise is that Indians approve of our government, ranking an international high 16 on this measure, and fifth highest for being confident about its financial institutions.
On the negative side, Indians are extremely pessimistic about the local entrepreneurial environment: amongst the lowest 15 countries on this Index – business start-up costs are a massive high at 66% of GNI per capita. Despite the tech sector, the index finds only 1.3% of goods exports come from the ICT sector, placing it at global rank of 59 on this variable — even though it does reasonably well in R&D spend.
The country invests 0.9% of its GDP in R&D, placing 47th and is among the top at 32 for royalty receipts from overseas. And no, according to the index, India does not have a well-educated workforce. The country places 91st for the average level of secondary education attained by workers, and 94th for the average level of tertiary education per worker.
Besides poor healthcare and failure to battle systemic diseases, a hefty 27% of Indians report debilitating health problems, and more than a third of people “feel worried for a significant part of the day.”
The Prosperity Index presents a broad view of wealth, happiness and prospects of the world's nations and citizens captured in eight sub-indexes. The idea behind the Index is that material wealth alone does not make for a happy society, but happy citizens are produced as much by democracy, freedom, social cohesion and entrepreneurial opportunity as they are by a growing economy.
