The Social Progress Index (SPI) measures the extent to which countries provide for the social and environmental needs of their citizens. Fifty-four indicators in the areas of basic human needs, foundations of well-being, and opportunity to progress show the relative performance of nations. The index is published by the nonprofit Social Progress Imperative, and is based on the writings of Amartya Sen, Douglass North, and Joseph Stiglitz.^[1] The SPI measures the well-being of a society by observing social and environmental outcomes directly rather than the economic factors. The social and environmental factors include wellness (including health, shelter and sanitation), equality, inclusion, sustainability and personal freedom and safety.^[2]

Introduction and methodology[edit]

The index combines three dimensions

1. Basic human needs
2. Foundations of well-being
3. Opportunity

Each dimension includes four components, which are each composed of between three and five specific outcome indicators. The included indicators are selected because they are measured appropriately, with a consistent methodology, by the same organization across all (or essentially all) of the countries in the sample. Together, this framework aims to capture a broad range of interrelated factors revealed by the scholarly literature and practitioner experience as underpinning social progress.

Two key features of the Social Progress Index are:^[2]

1. the exclusion of economic variables
2. the use of outcome measures rather than inputs

Social Progress Imperative evaluated hundreds of possible indicators while developing the Social Progress Index, including engaging researchers at MIT to determine what indicators best differentiated the performance of nations. The index uses outcome measures when there are sufficient data available or the closest possible proxies.^[2]

History[edit]

In 2010, a group of global leaders from the social sector sought to develop a better measure of a country’s level of development and, by extension, better understand its development priorities. Funded by private foundations and under the technical guidance of Professors Michael Porter from Harvard Business School and Scott Stern from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the group formed Social Progress Imperative and launched a beta version of the Social Progress Index for 50 countries in 2013 to measure a comprehensive array of components of social and environmental performance and aggregate them into an overall framework.

This work was influenced by the contributions of Amartya Sen on social development, as well as by the recent call for action in the report Mismeasuring Our Lives by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress.^[3] The Social Progress Index was released in 2014 for 133 countries with a second version in 2015.^[2]

On 11 July 2013, Social Progress Imperative’s chairman and professor at Harvard Business School, Michael Porter, addressed the United Nations 6th Ministerial Forum for Development and discussed the Social Progress Index.^[2]

In addition to the global Social Progress Index, the methodology used to create it has been adapted to measure social and environmental performance in smaller areas, such as the Amazon region of Brazil.^[4] Other projects include a Social Progress Index for the Municipality of Guatemala City.^[5] Fundacion Paraguaya has integrated elements of the Social Progress Index into its Poverty Stoplight tool. The national government of Paraguay is setting a target for Social Progress Index performance alongside GDP targets.

The Guardian reported that the European Commission had agreed to partner with Social Progress Imperative to create a social progress index for the European Union.^[6]The EU Social Progress Index was published in October, 2016.

A similar index, although with some differences compared to the nation list (and therefore not directly comparable), has been published for the individual U.S. states.^[7][8]

2018 Rankings and scores by country[edit]

Color key:

Very high →

Tier 1

Tier 2

Tier 3

Tier 4

Tier 5

Tier 6

→ Very low

Country	2018[9]
	Rank	Score
Norway	1	90.26
Iceland	2	90.24
Switzerland	3	89.97
Denmark	4	89.96
Finland	5	89.77
Japan	6	89.74
Netherlands	7	89.34
Luxembourg	8	89.27
Germany	9	89.21
New Zealand	10	89.12
Sweden	11	88.99
United Kingdom	12	88.74
Canada	13	88.62
Ireland	14	88.32
Australia	15	88.32
France	16	87.88
Belgium	17	87.39
South Korea	18	87.13
Spain	19	87.11
Austria	20	86.76
Italy	21	86.04
Slovenia	22	85.50
Singapore	23	85.42
Portugal	24	85.36
United States	25	84.78
Czech Republic	26	84.66
Estonia	27	83.49
Cyprus	28	82.85
Greece	29	82.59
Israel	30	82.47
Lithuania	31	81.86
Poland	32	81.21
Costa Rica	33	80.99
Chile	34	80.61
Slovakia	35	80.34
Hungary	36	80.11
Croatia	37	79.60
Uruguay	38	79.40
Latvia	39	79.25

2014-2017 Rankings and scores by country[edit]

Color key:

Very high →

Tier 1

Tier 2

Tier 3

Tier 4

Tier 5

Tier 6

→ Very low

Country	2017[10]		2016[11]		2015[12]		2014[13]
	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score
Denmark	1	90.57	3	89.39	8	86.63	9	86.55
Finland	2	90.53	1	90.09	7	86.75	8	86.91
Iceland	3	90.27	10	88.45	4	87.62	3	88.07
Norway	3	90.27	7	88.70	1	88.36	5	87.12
Switzerland	5	90.10	1	95.39	1	92.63	1	93.55
Canada	6	89.84	2	89.49	6	86.89	7	86.95
Netherlands	7	89.82	8	88.65	9	86.50	4	87.37
Sweden	8	89.66	6	88.80	2	88.06	6	87.08
Australia	9	89.30	4	89.13	10	86.42	10	86.10
New Zealand	9	89.30	10	88.45	5	87.08	1	88.24
Ireland	11	88.91	12	87.94	12	84.66	15	84.05
United Kingdom	12	88.73	9	88.58	11	84.68	13	84.56
Germany	13	88.50	15	86.42	14	84.04	12	84.61
Austria	14	87.98	13	86.60	13	82.83	11	85.11
Belgium	15	87.15	16	86.19	17	84.68	17	82.63
Spain	16	86.96	17	85.88	20	81.17	21	80.77
Japan	17	86.44	14	86.54	15	83.15	14	84.21
United States	18	86.43	19	84.62	16	82.85	16	82.77
France	19	85.92	18	84.79	21	80.82	20	81.11
Portugal	20	85.44	21	83.88	18	81.91	22	80.49
Slovenia	21	84.32	20	84.27	19	81.62	18	81.65
Czech Republic	22	84.22	22	82.80	22	80.59	23	80.41
Estonia	23	82.96	23	82.62	23	80.49	19	81.28
Italy	24	82.62	24	82.49	31	77.38	29	76.93
Chile	25	82.54	25	82.12	26	78.29	30	76.30
South Korea	26	82.08	26	80.92	29	77.70	28	77.18
Cyprus	27	81.15	27	80.75	30	77.45	N/A	N/A
Costa Rica	28	81.03	28	80.12	28	77.88	25	77.75
Israel	29	80.61	37	75.32	40	72.60	39	71.40
Slovakia	30	80.22	31	78.96	25	78.45	24	78.93
Uruguay	31	80.09	28	80.12	24	79.21	26	77.51
Poland	32	79.65	30	79.76	27	77.98	27	77.44
Greece	33	78.92	32	78.27	34	74.03	35	73.43
Latvia	34	78.61	36	76.19	33	74.12	31	73.91
Lithuania	35	78.09	34	76.94	35	74.00	33	73.76
Croatia	36	78.04	33	77.68	37	73.30	36	73.31
Hungary	37	77.32	35	76.88	32	74.80	32	73.87
Argentina	38	75.90	38	75.20	38	73.08	42	70.59
Mauritius	39	75.18	40	73.24	36	73.66	34	73.68
Panama	40	74.61	41	73.02	41	71.79	38	72.58
Bulgaria	41	74.42	43	72.14	43	70.19	44	70.24
Kuwait	42	74.12	45	71.84	47	69.19	40	70.66
Brazil	43	73.97	46	71.70	42	70.89	46	69.97
Romania	44	73.53	42	72.23	50	68.37	51	67.72
Serbia	45	73.41	47	71.55	45	69.79	41	70.61
Jamaica	46	72.42	44	71.94	44	69.83	43	70.39
Peru	47	72.15	49	70.09	55	67.23	55	66.29
Mexico	48	71.93	51	70.02	54	67.50	54	66.41
Colombia	49	71.72	48	70.84	49	68.85	52	67.24
Malaysia	50	71.14	50	70.08	46	69.55	45	70.00
Tunisia	51	71.09	56	68.00	67	64.92	70	62.96
Albania	52	70.97	52	69.78	52	68.19	48	69.13
Georgia	53	70.80	54	69.17	60	65.89	66	63.94
Montenegro	54	70.01	55	68.17	48	69.01	53	66.80
Ecuador	55	69.97	53	69.56	51	68.25	50	68.15
Jordan	56	69.85	71	65.43	74	63.31	75	61.92
Saudi Arabia	57	69.45	65	66.30	69	64.27	65	64.38
Macedonia	58	69.35	57	67.88	53	67.79	49	68.33
Armenia	59	69.01	67	66.05	61	65.70	60	65.03
Paraguay	60	68.73	60	67.44	56	67.10	72	62.65
Turkey	61	68.68	58	67.82	58	66.24	64	64.62
Thailand	62	68.51	61	67.43	57	66.34	59	65.14
Dominican Republic	63	68.42	70	65.65	77	62.47	68	63.03
Ukraine	64	68.35	63	66.43	62	65.69	62	64.91
Belarus	65	67.80	66	66.18	66	64.98	58	65.20
South Africa	66	67.25	58	67.60	63	65.64	69	62.96
Russia	67	67.17	75	64.19	71	63.64	80	60.79
Philippines	68	67.10	68	65.92	64	65.46	56	65.86
Lebanon	69	66.93	72	64.73	73	63.36	71	62.90
El Salvador	70	66.43	64	66.36	68	64.31	63	64.70
Bolivia	71	66.31	74	64.42	80	61.85	83	60.05
Moldova	71	66.31	72	64.73	70	63.68	81	60.12
Sri Lanka	73	66.16	83	62.21	88	60.10	85	59.71
Kazakhstan	74	66.01	76	63.86	83	61.38	86	59.47
Algeria	75	65.41	88	61.18	85	60.66	87	59.13
Azerbaijan	76	65.33	77	63.75	76	62.62	73	62.44
Kyrgyzstan	76	65.33	79	62.91	93	58.58	93	57.08
Morocco	78	65.25	86	61.92	91	59.56	91	58.01
Indonesia	79	65.10	82	62.27	86	60.47	88	58.98
Botswana	80	64.44	62	67.03	65	65.22	57	65.60
Nicaragua	81	64.17	78	63.03	78	62.20	74	62.33
Egypt	82	63.76	89	60.74	89	59.91	84	59.97
China	83	63.72	84	62.10	92	59.01	90	58.67
Guatemala	84	62.62	87	61.68	79	62.19	76	61.37
Uzbekistan	85	62.02	91	60.49	90	59.71	92	57.34
Mongolia	86	62.00	80	62.80	81	61.52	89	58.97
Namibia	87	61.98	85	62.01	75	62.71	78	61.19
Iran	88	61.93	93	59.45	95	56.82	94	56.65
Honduras	89	61.76	90	60.64	82	61.44	77	61.28
Ghana	90	61.44	92	60.37	94	58.29	96	55.96
Nepal	91	60.08	95	57.40	98	55.33	101	51.58
Tajikistan	92	58.87	94	58.78	96	56.49	95	56.05
India	93	58.39	98	53.92	101	53.06	102	50.24
Senegal	94	58.31	96	55.64	97	56.46	97	53.52
Kenya	95	56.17	99	53.72	104	51.67	103	50.20
Myanmar	96	55.69	110	49.84	119	46.12	N/A	N/A
Bangladesh	97	54.84	101	52.73	100	53.39	99	52.04
Cambodia	98	54.54	97	54.28	99	53.96	100	51.89
Laos	99	54.17	102	52.54	102	52.41	98	52.41
Malawi	100	53.09	100	53.44	111	48.95	109	48.79
Rwanda	101	52.78	105	51.91	106	51.60	105	49.46
Swaziland	102	52.64	106	51.76	107	50.94	108	48.87
Lesotho	103	51.74	103	52.39	103	52.27	107	48.94
Benin	104	51.69	108	50.03	108	50.04	106	49.11
Pakistan	105	51.54	113	49.13	122	45.66	124	42.40
Ivory Coast	106	50.65	116	48.97	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Tanzania	107	50.21	109	49.99	116	47.14	114	46.06
Zimbabwe	108	50.10	114	49.11	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nigeria	109	50.01	119	46.49	125	43.31	123	42.65
Burkina Faso	110	49.75	112	49.34	112	48.82	112	47.33
Uganda	111	49.59	107	50.69	110	49.49	111	47.75
Liberia	112	49.34	124	45.07	123	44.89	120	44.02
Mauritania	113	48.44	122	46.08	121	45.85	121	43.11
Republic of the Congo	114	48.24	111	49.74	109	49.60	110	47.99
Togo	115	48.21	115	49.03	117	46.66	122	42.80
Mozambique	116	47.90	117	47.96	120	46.02	117	45.23
Cameroon	117	47.83	118	47.22	114	47.42	116	45.51
Mali	118	47.75	121	46.24	118	46.51	113	46.85
Madagascar	119	47.40	123	45.91	124	44.50	119	44.28
Sierra Leone	120	47.10	125	44.22	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ethiopia	121	45.29	126	43.50	118	41.04	N/A	N/A
Yemen	122	43.46	127	41.76	128	40.30	125	40.23
Guinea	123	43.40	128	41.66	130	39.60	129	37.41
Niger	124	42.97	129	41.63	127	40.56	126	40.10
Angola	125	40.73	130	39.70	129	40.00	127	39.93
Chad	126	35.69	131	36.38	132	33.17	132	32.60
Afghanistan	127	35.66	132	35.89	131	35.40	N/A	N/A
Central African Republic	128	28.38	133	30.03	133	31.42	131	34.17
Singapore	N/A	N/A	4	95.36	4	92.60	4	93.52
Taiwan	N/A	N/A	5	88.87	3	87.97	2	88.19
United Arab Emirates	N/A	N/A	39	73.69	39	72.79	37	72.92
Bosnia and Herzegovina	N/A	N/A	69	65.84	59	66.15	61	64.99
Venezuela	N/A	N/A	81	62.60	72	63.45	67	63.78
Iraq	N/A	N/A	104	52.28	113	48.35	118	44.84
Djibouti	N/A	N/A	120	46.30	115	47.27	115	45.95
Trinidad and Tobago	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	47	69.88
Cuba	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	79	61.07
Guyana	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	82	60.06
Zambia	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	104	49.88
Sudan	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	128	38.45
Burundi	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	130	37.33

Criticism[edit]

From an econometric stand point, the Index appears to be similar to other efforts aimed at overcoming the limitation of traditional economic measure such as the gross domestic product (GDP). One major criticism is that although the Social Progress Index can be seen as a superset of indicators used by earlier econometric models such as Gross National Well-being Index 2005, Bhutan Gross National Happiness Index of 2012, and World Happiness Report of 2012, Yet, unlike them, it ignores measures of subjective life satisfaction and psychological well-being. Other critics point out that “there remain certain dimensions that are currently not included in the SPI. These are the concentration of wealth in the top 1 percent of the population, efficiency of the judicial system, and quality of the transportation infrastructure.”^[14]

Some critics argue that “we must be wary. Though words such as “inclusive capitalism” are bandied around increasingly these days to signal a new age, free from ideological battlegrounds between public and private, much of what the organization’s founders say about it confirms that the index is more about being “business inclusive” than “inclusive capitalism.”^[15]