Comments:
FB, LJ

#estonia #europe #france #human_development #malta

Social & Moral Development Index₁
Pos.		Higher is better Points₁
1	Denmark	84.0
2	Sweden	83.9
3	Finland	83.5
4	Netherlands	83.0
5	Germany	82.2
6	Belgium	82.2
7	Switzerland	82.0
8	Norway	81.9
9	UK	81.1
10	Ireland	80.8
	Europe Avg	67.1
	World Avg	53.8
q=48.

Human rights, equality and the rule of law define Europe, and European countries thusly make up most of the top countries on the Social and Moral Index. In "Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice" by Jack Donnelly₂ Europe is described as the leading practical example of the implementation of human rights, where they really are seen as intrinsic rights and not merely liberties₃. The European Court of Human Rights is heavily over-subscribed and influential: it answers to the call of the citizens themselves, and only very rarely do governments ignore its rulings₄.

There are 57 locations that fall within this category. By adding up all the known populations that fall within these locations, and summing their physical land areas, we can calculate population densities. Some islands and territories can end up being counted twice depending on how they are classified and divided up politically, but, mostly such errors involve only small populations. So, some data on this collection of countries in total:

Compare to other regions of the world

Total Population: 689.6m
Total Land Area: 6 665 788km²
Independent States: 48
Other Territories: 9

1. Social and Moral Development Index and Basic Demographics

#demographics #economics #health #human_development #life_expectancy #population

The Social and Moral Development Index concentrates on moral issues and human rights, violence, public health, equality, tolerance, freedom and effectiveness in climate change mitigation and environmentalism, and on some technological issues. A country scores higher for achieving well in those areas, and for sustaining that achievement in the long term. Those countries towards the top of this index can truly said to be setting good examples and leading humankind onwards into a bright, humane, and free future. See: What is the Best Country in the World? An Index of Morality, Conscience and Good Life.

Pos.		Social & Moral Higher is better Points₁	Life Expectancy (2015) Higher is better Years₅	Gross National Income (2011) Higher is better PPP $₅	UN HDI (2016) Lower is better Rank₆	Population (2012)₇	Land Area (2011) km²₈	People Per km² Lower is better
1	Denmark	84.0	80.41	$44 519	5	5.6m	42 430	132
2	Sweden	83.9	82.35	$46 251	14	9.5m	410 340	23
3	Finland	83.5	81.01	$38 868	23	5.4m	303 890	18
4	Netherlands	83.0	81.71	$46 326	7	16.7m	33 730	496
5	Germany	82.2	81.09	$45 000	4	82.0m	348 570	235
6	Belgium	82.2	80.98	$41 243	22	10.8m	30 280	356
7	Switzerland	82.0	83.13	$56 364	2	7.7m	40 000	193
8	Norway	81.9	81.71	$67 614	1	5.0m	304 250	16
9	UK	81.1	80.85	$37 931	16	62.8m	241 930	260
10	Ireland	80.8	81.05	$43 798	8	4.6m	68 890	66
11	Iceland	80.3	82.72	$37 065	9	0.3m	100 250	3
12	Luxembourg	79.3	81.88	$62 471	20	0.5m	2 590	202
13	Austria	79.3	81.58	$43 609	24	8.4m	82 409	102
14	France	76.9	82.36	$38 085	21	63.5m	547 660	116
15	Spain	73.4	82.77	$32 779	27	46.8m	498 800	94
16	Estonia	72.7	77.01	$26 362	30	1.3m	42 390	32
17	Italy	71.1	83.34	$33 573	26	61.0m	294 140	207
18	Czechia	71.0	78.78	$28 144	28	10.6m	77 240	137
19	Portugal	70.3	81.18	$26 104	41	10.7m	91 470	117
20	Slovenia	69.6	80.58	$28 664	25	2.0m	20 140	101
21	Hungary	69.4	75.31	$23 394	43	9.9m	90 530	110
22	Poland	67.2	77.62	$24 117	36	38.3m	304 150	126
23	Cyprus	66.9	80.33	$29 459	33	1.1m	9 240	122
24	Malta	66.7	80.73	$29 500	33	0.4m	320	1 310
25	Latvia	65.6	74.34	$22 589	44	2.2m	62 200	36
26	Slovakia	64.1	76.41	$26 764	40	5.5m	48 088	114
27	Lithuania	63.9	73.50	$26 006	37	3.3m	62 674	53
28	Greece	62.9	81.07	$24 808	29	11.4m	128 900	89
29	Bulgaria	62.3	74.32	$16 261	56	7.4m	108 560	68
30	Croatia	62.2	77.50	$20 291	45	4.4m	55 960	78
31	Romania	60.7	74.84	$19 428	50	21.4m	230 160	93
32	Andorra	60.0	81.46	$47 979	32	87 518	470	186
33	Monaco	59.9				35 444	2	17 722
34	Serbia	59.7	75.05	$12 202	66	9.8m	87 460	113
35	Liechtenstein	59.6	80.16	$75 065	15	36 584	160	229
36	Albania	58.0	77.97	$10 252	75	3.2m	27 400	118
37	Turkey	57.1	75.53	$18 705	71	74.5m	769 630	97
38	Macedonia	57.0	75.53	$12 405	82	2.1m	25 220	82
39	Moldova	57.0	71.73	$5 026	107	3.5m	32 854	107
40	Bosnia & Herzegovina	55.9	76.63	$10 091	81	3.7m	51 000	73
41	Montenegro	54.9	76.40	$15 410	48	0.6m	13 450	47
42	Georgia	54.7	75.02	$8 856	70	4.3m	69 490	62
43	Armenia	54.4	74.89	$8 189	84	3.1m	28 480	109
44	Ukraine	54.2	71.13	$7 361	84	44.9m	579 320	78
45	Azerbaijan	51.2	70.90	$16 413	78	9.4m	82 658	114
46	Belarus	51.2	71.46	$15 629	52	9.5m	202 910	47
47	Kosovo	48.7					10 887
48	San Marino	45.1		$50 063		31 945	60	532
	Europe Avg	67.1	78.36	$30 457	38.8	14.7m	130 702	112
	World Avg	53.8	71.27	$17 240	94.3	36.0m	620 450	58
q=48.

Not showing due to lack of data: the Vatican City. This page only shows places where the database has enough data to be able to come to reasonable conclusions about each place. The main focus is on nation states, but, some distinct external territories may be listed if the database has enough information about them. Averages are calculated from as many valid data points as possible, meaning, that some territories and locations that are not listed above may still be used to calculate some of the average values. Some calculations only use Independent State data - hover the cursor over values to see hints.

Links:

2. Human Rights and Moral Development

#gender #homosexuality #human_development #human_rights #mass_media #misogyny #morals #politics #women

Pos.		Social & Moral Higher is better Points₁	Gender Inequality (2015) Lower is better₉	Nominal Commitment to HR (2009) Higher is better Treaties₁₀	Press Freedom (2013) Lower is better₁₁	LGBT Equality (2017) Higher is better Score₁₂
1	Denmark	84.0	0.04	22	708	72
2	Sweden	83.9	0.05	23	923	86
3	Finland	83.5	0.06	19	638	57
4	Netherlands	83.0	0.04	19	648	103
5	Germany	82.2	0.07	23	1024	44
6	Belgium	82.2	0.07	22	1294	90
7	Switzerland	82.0	0.04	19	994	40
8	Norway	81.9	0.05	20	652	72
9	UK	81.1	0.13	19	1689	72
10	Ireland	80.8	0.13	19	1006	53
11	Iceland	80.3	0.05	20	849	72
12	Luxembourg	79.3	0.07	19	668	70
13	Austria	79.3	0.08	22	940	56
14	France	76.9	0.10	21	2160	78
15	Spain	73.4	0.08	23	2050	79
16	Estonia	72.7	0.13	17	926	45
17	Italy	71.1	0.08	22	2611	40
18	Czechia	71.0	0.13	20	1017	39
19	Portugal	70.3	0.09	20	1675	63
20	Slovenia	69.6	0.05	23	2049	45
21	Hungary	69.4	0.25	20	2609	49
22	Poland	67.2	0.14	20	1311	40
23	Cyprus	66.9	0.12	20	1383	40
24	Malta	66.7	0.22	18	2330	63
25	Latvia	65.6	0.19	16	2289	25
26	Slovakia	64.1	0.18	20	1325	39
27	Lithuania	63.9	0.12	18	1824	30
28	Greece	62.9	0.12	19	2846	39
29	Bulgaria	62.3	0.22	20	2858	33
30	Croatia	62.2	0.14	22	2661	45
31	Romania	60.7	0.34	20	2305	39
32	Andorra	60.0		15	682	63
33	Monaco	59.9		16		40
34	Serbia	59.7	0.18	23	2659	40
35	Liechtenstein	59.6		20	735	25
36	Albania	58.0	0.27	20	3088	40
37	Turkey	57.1	0.33	17	4656	25
38	Macedonia	57.0	0.16	20	3427	25
39	Moldova	57.0	0.23	18	2601	25
40	Bosnia & Herzegovina	55.9	0.16	21	2686	35
41	Montenegro	54.9	0.16	21	3297	35
42	Georgia	54.7	0.36	20	3009	35
43	Armenia	54.4	0.29	17	2804	20
44	Ukraine	54.2	0.28	20	3679	25
45	Azerbaijan	51.2	0.33	21	4773	15
46	Belarus	51.2	0.14	16	4835	15
47	Kosovo	48.7			2847	35
48	San Marino	45.1		16		35
	Europe Avg	67.1	0.15	19.5	2044	46.9
	World Avg	53.8	0.36	15.1	3249	12.6
q=48.

Europe has an excellent record on women's rights and gender equality. The biases of the male-dominated past have largely come to an end. The battle isn't over, but, there is nowhere else in the world where the spurious prejudices of human culture have been so diminished in the realm of gender.

“There is indeed a broad consensus throughout Europe to ensure men and women can access contraception, safe abortion services and reproductive healthcare and information on sexuality. This is the basis upon which people can make free and fair choices about their family life and composition.”
NSS (2015)₁₃

3. Religion and Beliefs

#belief #buddhism #christianity #folk_religion #god #hinduism #human_development #islam #judaism #no_religion #religion

Over the last 60 years, religion in Europe has seen a strong decline. On average throughout the 27 EU countries, only half of its people believe in God₁₄ and 25.4% directly say that they have no religion₁₅. There is much variation from country to country. Only 16% of the populace of Estonia believe in God and the Scandinavian countries are highly atheist. But 95% believe in Malta. Two main social groups are particularly prone to belief in God; those over 55 years old and those whose education did not proceed beyond the 15-year-old stage.₁₄. For a discussion on secularisation in general, see: "Secularisation Theory: Will Modern Society Reject Religion? What is Secularism?" by Vexen Crabtree

Despite the low rate of belief in God, many Europeans still claim to belong to theistic religions. 49.5% of the population of Europe say they are Catholic Christian, 15.7% say they're Muslim, 12.7% say they're Protestant Christian, 8.6% say they're Orthodox Christian and 0.4% say they are Jewish₁₅. These numbers mean that at least 30% of Europeans are putting down a religion despite not believing in the very basic first principal of the religion they put down. In some places, this percent is higher. In France only 52% of Catholic believe in God and "only 18 percent define God according to the teachings of the Catholic Church"₁₆. This is all because most people in Europe confuse religion and cultural heritage, and for many the actual beliefs of a religion don't really matter. For a discussion of this, see: "Institutionalized Religions Have Their Numbers Inflated by National Polls" by Vexen Crabtree.

Pos.		Religiosity (2009) Lower is better %₁₇	Disbelief In God (2007) Higher is better₁₈	Jews (2010) %₁₉	Christians (2010) %₁₉	Muslims (2010) %₁₉	Hindus (2010) %₁₉	Buddhists (2010) %₁₉	Folk Religion (2010) %₁₉	Unaffiliated (2010) %₁₉
1	Albania	39	8	0.1	18.0	80.3	0.1	0.1	0.1	1.4
2	Andorra			0.3	89.5	0.8	0.5	0.1	0.1	8.8
3	Armenia	73	14	0.1	98.5	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	1.3
4	Austria		18	0.2	80.4	5.4	0.1	0.2	0.1	13.5
5	Azerbaijan	50	0	0.1	3.0	96.9	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
6	Belarus	34	17	0.1	71.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	28.6
7	Belgium		43	0.3	64.2	5.9	0.1	0.2	0.2	29.0
8	Bosnia & Herzegovina	77		0.1	52.3	45.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	2.5
9	Bulgaria		34	0.1	82.1	13.7	0.1	0.1	0.1	4.2
10	Croatia	70	7	0.1	93.4	1.4	0.1	0.1	0.1	5.1
11	Cyprus	75		0.1	73.2	25.3	0.1	0.2	0.1	1.2
12	Czechia		61	0.1	23.3	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	76.4
13	Denmark	19	48	0.1	83.5	4.1	0.4	0.2	0.1	11.8
14	Estonia	16	49	0.1	39.9	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	59.6
15	Finland		28	0.1	81.6	0.8	0.1	0.1	0.1	17.6
16	France	30	44	0.5	63.0	7.5	0.1	0.5	0.3	28.0
17	Georgia	81	4	0.1	88.5	10.7	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.7
18	Germany	40	42	0.3	68.7	5.8	0.1	0.3	0.1	24.7
19	Greece	71	16	0.1	88.1	5.3	0.1	0.1	0.1	6.1
20	Hungary	39	32	0.1	81.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	18.6
21	Iceland		16	0.1	95.0	0.2	0.3	0.4	0.5	3.5
22	Ireland	54	5	0.1	92.0	1.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	6.2
23	Italy	72	6	0.1	83.3	3.7	0.1	0.2	0.1	12.4
24	Latvia	39	20	0.1	55.8	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	43.8
25	Liechtenstein			0.1	91.9	5.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	2.9
26	Lithuania	42	13	0.1	89.8	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	10.0
27	Luxembourg	39		0.1	70.4	2.3	0.1	0.1	0.1	26.8
28	Macedonia	76		0.1	59.3	39.3	0.1	0.1	0.1	1.4
29	Malta	86		0.1	97.0	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	2.5
30	Moldova	72	6	0.6	97.4	0.6	0.1	0.1	0.1	1.4
31	Monaco			1.7	86.0	0.4	0.1	0.1	0.1	11.7
32	Montenegro	71		0.1	78.1	18.7	0.1	0.1	0.1	3.2
33	Netherlands		42	0.2	50.6	6.0	0.5	0.2	0.2	42.1
34	Norway		31	0.1	84.7	3.7	0.5	0.6	0.1	10.1
35	Poland	75	3	0.1	94.3	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	5.6
36	Portugal		4	0.1	93.8	0.6	0.1	0.6	0.5	4.4
37	Romania	84	4	0.1	99.0	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
38	San Marino			0.3	91.6	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	7.2
39	Serbia	54		0.1	92.5	4.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	3.3
40	Slovakia		17	0.1	85.3	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	14.3
41	Slovenia	47	35	0.1	78.4	3.6	0.1	0.1	0.1	18.0
42	Spain	49	15	0.1	78.6	2.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	19.0
43	Sweden	17	64	0.1	67.2	4.6	0.2	0.4	0.2	27.0
44	Switzerland	41	17	0.3	81.3	5.5	0.4	0.4	0.1	11.9
45	Turkey	82		0.1	0.4	98.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	1.2
46	Ukraine	46	20	0.1	83.8	1.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	14.7
47	UK	27	42	0.5	71.1	4.4	1.3	0.4	0.3	21.3
48	Vatican City			0.1	99.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
49	Guernsey
50	Isle of Man			0.1	84.1	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	15.4
51	Jersey
52	Gibraltar			2.1	88.8	4.0	1.8	0.1	0.1	2.9
53	Faroe Islands			0.1	98.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	1.7
54	Aland Islands
55	Svalbard
56	Kosovo	90		0.1	11.4	87.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	1.6
57	Channel Islands			0.1	85.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	14.2
	Europe Avg	55.2	23.6	0.2	74.7	11.5	0.2	0.2	0.1	13.2
	World Avg	75.1	9.9	0.5	60.6	22.4	2.0	3.5	2.7	7.9
q=57.

Links:

More on religion in Europe:

4. The European Union (EU)₂₀

Current edition: 2013 Nov 06
Last Modified: 2017 Mar 22
http://www.humantruth.info/europe.html
Parent page: Compare International Statistics by Region and Continent

Links

All #tags used on this page - click for more:

#belief #buddhism #christianity #demographics #economics #estonia #europe #folk_religion #france #gender #god #health #hinduism #homosexuality #human_development #human_rights #islam #judaism #life_expectancy #malta #mass_media #misogyny #morals #no_religion #politics #population #religion #women

Social Media

References: (What's this?)

Clarke, Peter B.. Peter B. Clarke: Professor Emeritus of the History and Sociology of Religion, King's College, University of London, and currently Professor in the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford, UK.
(2011) The Oxford Handbook of The Sociology of Religion. Originally published 2009. Current version published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. A paperback book.

Crabtree, Vexen
(2019) "What is the Best Country in the World? An Index of Morality, Conscience and Good Life" (2019). Accessed 2019 Jan 14.

Donnelly, Jack
(2013) Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice. 3rd edition. Published by Cornell University Press.

Gallup
(2009) Religiosity. gallup.com/poll/142727/.... The survey question was "Is religion an important part of your daily life?" and results are charted for those who said "yes". 1000 adults were polled in each of 114 countries.

Lynn, Harvey & Nyborg
(2009) Average intelligence predicts atheism rates across 137 nations. Richard Lynn, John Harvey and Helmuth Nyborg. Published in Intelligence (2009 Jan/Feb) vol. 37 issue 1 pages 11-15. Online at www.sciencedirect.com, accessed 2009 Sep 15.

Pew Forum. Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
(2012) The Global Religious Landscape: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Major Religious Groups as of 2010. Published 2012 Dec 18, accessed online 2013 May 01.

United Nations
(2013) Human Development Report. Published by the UN Development Programme. This edition had the theme of The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World. Available on hdr.undp.org/... UN Development Program: About the Human Development Index.
(2017) Human Development Report. Published by the UN Development Programme. Data for 2015. Available on hdr.undp.org/.

Wenzel, Nikolai G.
(2011) Postmodernism and Religion. This is chapter 9 (pages p172-193) of "The Oxford Handbook of The Sociology of Religion" by Peter B. Clarke (2011)₁ (pages p172-193). Clarke, Peter B.. Peter B. Clarke: Professor Emeritus of the History and Sociology of Religion, King's College, University of London, and currently Professor in the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford, UK.
(2011) The Oxford Handbook of The Sociology of Religion. Originally published 2009. Current version published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. A paperback book.

Footnotes

"What is the Best Country in the World? An Index of Morality, Conscience and Good Life" by Vexen Crabtree (2019)^^^^
Donnelly (2013) .^
Donnelly (2013). Chapter 4 "Equal Concern and Respect" p67. Added to this page on 2014 Oct 07.^
Donnelly (2013). Chapter 2 "The Universal Declaration Model" p32. Added to this page on 2014 Oct 07.^
UN (2017). Table 1. Higher is better.^
UN (2017). Table 1. Lower is better.^
UN (2013). Table 14.^
World Bank data on data.worldbank.org accessed 2013 Nov 04.^
UN (2017). Table 5. Lower is better.^
Max possible=24. Total amount of treaties ratified. Nominal Commitment to Human Rights report published by UCL School of Public Policy, London, UK, at ucl.ac.uk/spp/research/research-projects/nchr accessed 2011 Apr 30.^
Reporters Without Borders Report "2013 World Press Freedom Index: Dashed hopes after spring" at fr.rsf.org/.../classement_2013_gb-bd.pdf accessed 2013 Feb.^
Sources:
- International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association annual report for 2017, on ilga.org accessed 2017 Sep 24.
- PF: Pew Forum on pewforum.org/Gay-Marriage-and-Homosexuality/ (page updated 2017 Aug 08). (Source of the quotes on religious opposition to LGBT).
- Wikipedia on en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_at_the_United_Nations accessed 2013 Apr 18. (Source of data on who signed the UN 2008 document and its opposing document).
- Wikipedia on en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights accessed 2013 Apr 18 (source of the civil union & legality of homosexuality legality by country).
^
National Secular Society (2015) article "Religious lobbying threatens European Parliament vote on gender equality" (2015 Mar 08).^
"Eurobarometer 225: Social values, Science & Technology". Published by Eurostat (2005) for the European Commission. Accessed 2008 Sep 01.^
National Secular Society newsletter (2007 Mar 02), which included commentary on a Eurostat (2007) publication.^
Wenzel (2011). p185.^
Gallup (2009) .^
Zuckerman, P. (2007). Atheism: contemporary numbers and patterns. In M.Martin (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Atheism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. In "Average intelligence predicts atheism rates across 137 nations" by Lynn et al. (2009)₂₁.^
Pew Forum (2011) - data for 2010.₂₂^
Added to this page on 2013 Nov 09.^
Lynn, Harvey & Nyborg (2009) .^
Pew (2012) .^

Which are the Best Countries in Europe?

1. Social and Moral Development Index and Basic Demographics

2. Human Rights and Moral Development

3. Religion and Beliefs

4. The European Union (EU)20

4. The European Union (EU)₂₀