The Social and Moral Index

1. The Social and Moral Index
2. Results: All Countries From Best to Worst
3. The Criteria
4. Previous Edition (2005-2007) Winners: Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland and Germany
5. Notes on Methodology
6. Links

1. The Social and Moral Index

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.

2. Results: All Countries From Best to Worst

#human_development

Countries are only listed if they appear in over 5 data sets, otherwise their score could be inaccurate and non-representative.

3. The Criteria

4. Previous Edition (2005-2007) Winners: Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland and Germany

#belgium #canada #denmark #finland #germany #netherlands #norway #sweden #switzerland #UK

For old stats, view the archived page: "Which Countries Set the Best Examples? (Archived page from 2005-2007)" by Vexen Crabtree (2007).

5. Notes on Methodology

The Social and Moral Development Index combines a large number of data sets into a single formula. It's not a simplistic ranking system - for most data sets, each country is given points according to where it sits on the scale ranging from the best country, to the worst country, on a scalar (and not linear) basis. The worst country in any given data set gets 0 points, and the best gets 100 points, and everyone else gets a portion of those points according to how close to the top they sit. It pays to be as good as possible. The points are not summed to form a total, because this would unfairly give advantages to countries that appear in most data sets - most data are not fully comprehensive. Each country gains a final score which is an average of its points from all datasets.

When it comes to presenting the results, charts show the best 5 countries marked with a green number, and the worst 5 marked with a red one. If there is a tie, then, the markers extend for as long as the tie continues. Sometimes the actual points are calculated to many significant figures, but, the results are only shown for 3 s.f. and in these cases, it might look like the flags do not extend enough. To view the data in more detail hover over any row to view the precise points awarded.