The Social and Moral Index

By Vexen Crabtree 2018

Comments:
FB, LJ

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

--- The Best ---₁
Pos.		Higher is better Points₁
1	Iceland	83.5
2	Denmark	82.2
3	Sweden	81.9
4	Norway	81.7
5	Finland	81.6
6	Belgium	81.3
7	New Zealand	80.1
8	Luxembourg	79.6
9	Switzerland	79.4
10	Australia	79.2
11	Germany	79.2
12	Netherlands	79.1
13	UK	78.7
14	Ireland	78.6
15	Canada	77.9
16	Austria	76.9
17	Hong Kong	76.9
18	Taiwan	75.4
19	Japan	74.3
20	France	73.5
21	Estonia	71.8
22	Spain	71.7
23	USA	71.2
24	Israel	69.3
25	Portugal	69.1
26	Korea, S.	68.9
27	Singapore	68.9
28	Czechia	68.5
29	Italy	68.1
30	Slovenia	67.8
31	Uruguay	66.7
32	Malta	66.3
33	Latvia	64.9
34	Costa Rica	64.5
35	Poland	64.1
36	Chile	63.6
37	Lithuania	63.3
38	Cyprus	63.3
39	Hungary	63.3
40	Brunei	63.1
41	Slovakia	62.6
42	Maldives	62.2
43	Bahamas	62.1
44	Jamaica	61.8
45	Barbados	61.5
46	St Vincent & Grenadines	61.5
47	Argentina	61.2
48	Seychelles	61.1
49	Greece	60.7
50	Trinidad & Tobago	60.6
51	Mauritius	60.1
52	Andorra	60.0
53	Brazil	60.0
54	Monaco	59.9
55	Mongolia	59.6
56	Croatia	59.3
57	Liechtenstein	59.1
58	Bhutan	58.6
59	Romania	58.4
60	Fiji	58.1
61	Mexico	57.9
62	Antigua & Barbuda	57.9
63	St Lucia	57.9
64	Malaysia	57.7
65	Albania	57.4
66	Panama	56.8
q=198.

--- The Average ---₁
Pos.		Higher is better Points₁
67	Qatar	56.6
68	Peru	56.5
69	Suriname	56.5
70	UAE	56.4
71	Belize	56.2
72	Bulgaria	55.8
73	Serbia	55.5
74	Kuwait	55.4
75	S. Africa	55.2
76	Nicaragua	54.8
77	Bahrain	54.8
78	Colombia	54.5
79	Uzbekistan	54.5
80	Cuba	54.4
81	Philippines	54.4
82	Bosnia & Herzegovina	54.2
83	Turkey	54.1
84	Macedonia	54.0
85	Tajikistan	53.9
86	Dominican Rep.	53.8
87	El Salvador	53.7
88	Vietnam	53.5
89	Montenegro	53.4
90	Ecuador	53.3
91	Bolivia	53.2
92	Guatemala	53.2
93	Kyrgyzstan	53.2
94	Azerbaijan	53.0
95	Grenada	53.0
96	Armenia	52.9
97	Cape Verde	52.9
98	Georgia	52.8
99	Oman	52.8
100	Turkmenistan	52.7
101	Tonga	52.6
102	Dominica	52.3
103	Sri Lanka	52.1
104	Belarus	52.0
105	Korea, N.	51.9
106	Samoa	51.4
107	Libya	51.3
108	Thailand	51.0
109	Kazakhstan	50.9
110	Paraguay	50.8
111	Russia	50.5
112	Ukraine	50.5
113	Moldova	49.9
114	Jordan	49.9
115	Guyana	49.9
116	Honduras	49.8
117	China	49.8
118	Tunisia	49.5
119	Vanuatu	49.4
120	Venezuela	49.4
121	Morocco	49.2
122	Lebanon	49.2
123	Botswana	49.1
124	Kenya	48.8
125	Indonesia	48.8
126	Puerto Rico	48.6
127	Laos	48.6
128	Micronesia	48.3
129	Ghana	48.0
130	Saudi Arabia	48.0
131	Nepal	47.9
132	Iran	47.6
q=198.

--- The Challenged ---₁
Pos.		Higher is better Points₁
133	Kiribati	47.5
134	Namibia	47.5
135	St Kitts & Nevis	47.1
136	Solomon Islands	47.0
137	Sao Tome & Principe	46.9
138	Haiti	46.7
139	Senegal	46.3
140	Rwanda	46.2
141	India	46.1
142	Timor-Leste (E. Timor)	46.1
143	Nauru	45.4
144	Egypt	45.2
145	Swaziland	45.2
146	Djibouti	45.1
147	San Marino	45.1
148	Burkina Faso	45.0
149	Bangladesh	44.9
150	Papua New Guinea	44.8
151	Comoros	44.8
152	Cambodia	44.7
153	Algeria	44.7
154	Madagascar	44.2
155	Lesotho	43.8
156	Tanzania	43.7
157	Liberia	43.5
158	Myanmar (Burma)	43.4
159	Uganda	43.1
160	Malawi	43.1
161	Benin	42.8
162	Guinea-Bissau	42.8
163	Palau	42.8
164	Eritrea	42.5
165	Zambia	42.5
166	Mozambique	42.3
167	Kosovo	42.1
168	Ethiopia	41.5
169	Sierra Leone	41.1
170	Tuvalu	40.9
171	Gabon	40.9
172	Cameroon	40.9
173	Gambia	40.8
174	Guinea	40.6
175	Ivory Coast	40.3
176	Nigeria	39.8
177	Mali	39.1
178	Syria	39.1
179	Congo, (Brazzaville)	39.1
180	Togo	39.1
181	Pakistan	38.9
182	Palestine	38.9
183	Mauritania	38.8
184	Zimbabwe	38.6
185	S. Sudan	38.5
186	Afghanistan	37.6
187	Equatorial Guinea	37.4
188	Iraq	36.5
189	Angola	35.1
190	Burundi	35.1
191	Niger	35.0
192	Sudan	34.5
193	Central African Rep.	33.1
194	Yemen	32.6
195	Chad	31.7
196	Congo, DR	31.3
197	Marshall Islands	29.8
198	Somalia	28.6
q=198.

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

3. The Criteria

The Criteria:		(Year)	Winners
1.	Corruption (2012-2016)	2012-6	Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden
2.	Global Peace Index	2012	Iceland, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada
3.	Happiness	2018	Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland
4.	Maths, Science & Reading	2015	Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau
5.	Personal Charitability (World Position, 2013-2016)	2013-6	Myanmar (Burma), USA, New Zealand, Canada
The Criteria: Health		(Year)	Winners
6.	Adolescent Birth Rate	2015	Korea, N., Korea, S., Switzerland, Hong Kong
7.	Alcohol Consumption	2010	4-country draw
8.	Fertility Rate	2013	Korea, N., Brunei, St Vincent & Grenadines, France
9.	Infant Immunizations 2011-2015	2011-5	China, Hungary, Uzbekistan, Niue
10.	Life Expectancy	2015	Hong Kong, Japan, Italy, Singapore
11.	Smoking Rates	2014	Guinea, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Uganda
The Criteria: Human Rights & Equality		(Year)	Winners
12.	Anti-Semite Opinions	2014	Laos, Philippines, Sweden, Netherlands
13.	Gender Inequality	2015	Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden
14.	LGBT Equality	2017	Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Brazil
15.	Nominal Commitment to HR	2009	Argentina, +12-country draw
16.	Personal, Civil & Economic Freedom	2014	Hong Kong, Switzerland, New Zealand, Ireland
17.	Press Freedom	2013	Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg
18.	Slavery	2013	Iceland, Ireland, UK, New Zealand
19.	Year Women Can Vote	1893+	New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Norway
The Criteria: Modernity		(Year)	Winners
20.	Freedom On The Internet	2012	Estonia, USA, Germany, Australia
21.	Internet Users	2016	Iceland, Faroe Islands, Norway, Bermuda
22.	IPv6 Uptake	2017	Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, USA
23.	IT Security	2010-2	Belize, Ireland, Luxembourg, Hong Kong
24.	Religiosity	2009	Estonia, Sweden, +3-country draw
25.	Research and Development	2016	Korea, S., Israel, Japan, Finland
The Criteria: The Natural Environment		(Year)	Winners
26.	Energy to GDP Efficiency	2014	Informational only
27.	Environmental Performance	2018	Switzerland, France, Denmark, Malta
28.	Forest Area Change 1990-2015	1990-2015	Iceland, Bahrain, Uruguay, Kuwait

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

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

The Best Countries 2005-2007
#1 Sweden	1683 points
#2 Denmark	1598 points
#3 Netherlands	1572 points
#4 Finland	1514 points
#5 Germany	1422 points
#6 UK	1407 points
#7 Canada	1373 points
#8 Switzerland	1326 points
#9 Norway	1320 points
#10 Belgium	1208 points

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.

Current edition: 2018 Jun 07
http://www.humantruth.info/social_and_moral_index.html
Parent page: What is the Best Country in the World? An Index of Morality, Conscience and Good Life

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

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

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References: (What's this?)

Crabtree, Vexen
(2017) "What is the Best Country in the World? An Index of Morality, Conscience and Good Life" (2017). Accessed 2018 Jun 08.

Footnotes

"What is the Best Country in the World? An Index of Morality, Conscience and Good Life" by Vexen Crabtree (2017)^