The London-based research institute Legatum showed its latest update of the yearly Global Prosperity Index, a survey about the most prosperous countries in the world. The Legatum Institute ranks each country based not only on the amount of money the country has, but also considers the GDP, the security and quality of healthcare and education, hospitality, access to high-speed internet services and a lot more variables.
According to Independent, the total sum of the variables is 104, which is also split into nine variable subcategories: economic quality, business environment, governance, education, health, safety and security, personal freedom, social capital, and natural environment.
According to Telegraph, the index list surveyed up to 149 countries around the world and for the last several years, Norway took up the number one spot, but this year was a bit different, for there is a different country that occupied this year's top spot. Here's the top five list of the overall ranking of Global Prosperity Index:
The fifth place goes to America's neighbor, Canada. The country also placed third for social capital and business environment, and second for personal freedom. The fourth place goes to Switzerland. This country is one of the usual countries listed at the top rank, and also placed third in healthcare and first place in the education category.
The second runner up for this year's list goes to Finland. Considered as the most prosperous northern European state, Finland also topped this year's governance category. The first runner up for this year's list goes to Norway. This year's runner up has been in ranked as the most prosperous country in the world for many years (seven consecutive years, to be precise). The country also ranked third in the governance category.
And last but not least, Global Prosperity Index's first place and top one most prosperous country in the world goes to New Zealand. This country also topped both the social capital and economic category and placed second in the business environment and governance. Here's a video of last year's list of the most prosperous countries:
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