Monday, April 15, 2019

Good Country Index is completely dominated by Europe

I just came across the Good Country Index, which has apparently been going for a few years now (although the current year's results seem to be unavailable at present, despite a recent BBC posting on the index).
The index is a composite of data that purports to measure the impact of individual countries on the wider world, particularly as regards its ecological footprint, at least according to the BBC and the index's originator, Simon Anholt. In fact, it has a wider remit that that, being a composite of seven different categories: Science & Technology, Culture, International Peace & Security, World Order, Planet & Climate, Prosperity & Equality, and Health & Wellbeing. In that respect it is not dissimilar to sone other indices like the Best Countries Ranking and the UN Human Development Index.
Anyway, it is probably no surprise to find a bunch of European countries, particularly the Scandinavian ones, at the top of the overall index in the latest available data, which I think is from 2018, although it is a bit hard to tell from the website (which also only works in certain browsers, which frankly is just plain unacceptable in this day and age).
Here is the top 10:
  • Finland
  • Netherlands
  • Ireland
  • Sweden
  • Germany
  • Denmark
  • Switzerland
  • Norway
  • France
  • Spain
The list in the BBC article, which I think dates from 2019, even if it not currently available on the organization's actual website, has a similar but slightly different list of European countries at the top, headed by Norway, Switzerland and Portugal.
Canada, perhaps surprisingly to some, is the first non-European country on the index, and comes in at No. 11 (the next non-European country is New Zealand at No. 17, and then Japan at No, 24, such is the European domination of the list).

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