Which are the Best Countries in The Americas?

Social & Moral Development Index1
Pos.		Lower is better Avg Rank1
1	Canada	41.6
2	Uruguay	52.1
3	Costa Rica	55.1
4	Chile	62.0
5	Argentina	65.6
6	USA	66.6
7	Brazil	68.1
8	Mexico	75.9
9	Peru	76.2
10	Barbados	77.4
	...
33	Guyana	97.3
34	Belize	99.2
35	Haiti	114.9
	The Americas Avg	81.5
	World Avg	88.4
q=35.

Out of all the countries in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America, who scores most highly on the Social and Moral Index?

There are 58 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:

• Population: 1.0b
• Land Area: 38 793 822km² (23% of Earth's land)
• Independent States: 35
• Other Territories: 23
• Compare to other regions of the world

1. Summary Data
2. Social and Moral Development
3. Demographics and Migration
4. Responsibility Towards The Environment
5. Culture, Peace and Inequality
6. Modernity and Learning
7. Health
8. Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance
9. Religion and Beliefs
10. Links

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1. Summary Data

#economics #human_development #population #wealth

Pos.		Population (2018) Population2	Social & Moral Lower is better Avg Rank1	Gross National Income (2021) Higher is better PPP $3	UN HDI (2021) Higher is better Value3	Land Area (2011) km24	People Per km2 Lower is better
1	Antigua & Barbuda	96 286	91.0	$16 792	0.788	440	219
2	Argentina	44.4m	65.6	$20 925	0.842	2 736 690	16
3	Bahamas	0.4m	89.1	$30 486	0.812	10 010	39
4	Barbados	0.3m	77.4	$12 306	0.790	430	667
5	Belize	0.4m	99.2	$6 309	0.683	22 810	17
6	Bolivia	11.4m	85.9	$8 111	0.692	1 083 300	10
7	Brazil	209.5m	68.1	$14 370	0.754	8 459 420	25
8	Canada	37.1m	41.6	$46 808	0.936	9 093 510	4
9	Chile	18.7m	62.0	$24 563	0.855	743 532	25
10	Colombia	49.7m	79.2	$14 384	0.752	1 109 500	45
11	Costa Rica	5.0m	55.1	$19 974	0.809	51 060	98
12	Cuba	11.3m	79.3	$7 879	0.764	106 440	107
13	Dominica	71 625	86.9	$11 488	0.720	750	96
14	Dominican Rep.	10.6m	83.5	$17 990	0.767	48 320	220
15	Ecuador	17.1m	78.0	$10 312	0.740	248 360	69
16	El Salvador	6.4m	81.0	$8 296	0.675	20 720	310
17	Grenada	0.1m	91.8	$13 484	0.795	340	328
18	Guatemala	17.2m	87.1	$8 723	0.627	107 160	161
19	Guyana	0.8m	97.3	$22 465	0.714	196 850	4
20	Haiti	11.1m	114.9	$2 848	0.535	27 560	404
21	Honduras	9.6m	93.7	$5 298	0.621	111 890	86
22	Jamaica	2.9m	83.7	$8 834	0.709	10 830	271
23	Mexico	126.2m	75.9	$17 896	0.758	1 943 950	65
24	Nicaragua	6.5m	95.0	$5 625	0.667	120 340	54
25	Panama	4.2m	78.7	$26 957	0.805	74 340	56
26	Paraguay	7.0m	89.9	$12 349	0.717	397 300	18
27	Peru	32.0m	76.2	$12 246	0.762	1 280 000	25
28	St Kitts & Nevis	52 441	94.9	$23 358	0.777	260	202
29	St Lucia	0.2m	92.9	$12 048	0.715	610	298
30	St Vincent & Grenadines	0.1m	91.1	$11 961	0.751	390	283
31	Suriname	0.6m	90.9	$12 672	0.730	156 000	4
32	Trinidad & Tobago	1.4m	79.9	$23 392	0.810	5 130	271
33	USA	327.1m	66.6	$64 765	0.921	9 147 420	36
34	Uruguay	3.4m	52.1	$21 269	0.809	175 020	20
35	Venezuela	28.9m	92.6	$4 811	0.691	882 050	33
36	Bermuda					50
37	Cayman Islands					240
38	Turks & Caicos Islands					950
39	Puerto Rico					8 870
40	US Virgin Islands					350
41	Greenland					410 450
42	Aruba					180
	The Americas Avg	28.6m	81.5	$16 628	0.75	923 662	31
	World Avg	39.0m	88.4	$20 136	0.72	620 450	63
q=42. No data: 165

Not showing due to lack of data: St Barthelemy.

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:

• Compare to other regions of the world
• Which are the Countries for International Contributions, Creativity, Peace and Inequality?
• The Population of the Earth
• Homosexuality in Animals and Humans

2. Social and Moral Development

#charitability #climate_change #culture #education #equality #freedom #gender_equality #health #human_development #human_rights #modernity #morals #peace #politics #prejudice #technology #the_environment #the_internet #tolerance

Here are each country's overall scores across the categories that make up the Social and Moral Development Index. This is followed by lists of how each country scores in each individual data set.

Pos.		Social & Moral Lower is better Avg Rank1	Responsibility Towards The Environment (2025) Lower is better Avg Rank6	Culture, Peace & Inequality (2025) Lower is better Avg Rank7	Modernity & Learning (2025) Lower is better Avg Rank8	Health (2025) Lower is better Avg Rank9	Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance (2025) Lower is better Avg Rank10
1	Canada	41.6	87.2		30.9	57.4	16.7
2	Uruguay	52.1	43.2		46.1	81.6	31.2
3	Costa Rica	55.1	49.7		55.8	75.4	38.8
4	Chile	62.0	56.4		41.0	86.2	60.3
5	Argentina	65.6	78.5		34.3	91.7	50.3
6	USA	66.6	103.8		79.3	68.9	47.4
7	Brazil	68.1	70.2		44.0	86.6	54.1
8	Mexico	75.9	66.3		53.2	100.7	66.7
9	Peru	76.2	56.7		55.0	100.4	67.9
10	Barbados	77.4	110.1		78.7	73.9	73.2
11	Ecuador	78.0	65.6		57.6	91.2	75.4
12	Panama	78.7	82.5		65.7	89.7	75.3
13	Colombia	79.2	70.9		61.0	84.3	80.7
14	Cuba	79.3	79.4		54.3	67.0	106.0
15	Trinidad & Tobago	79.9	94.5		86.2	89.5	69.3
16	El Salvador	81.0	67.4		79.2	97.4	69.8
17	Dominican Rep.	83.5	65.0		65.7	104.6	79.7
18	Jamaica	83.7	88.6		103.3	88.1	78.8
19	Bolivia	85.9	81.8		60.5	118.9	65.5
20	Dominica	86.9	78.5		100.5	86.0	92.0
21	Guatemala	87.1	66.1		86.7	113.2	77.1
22	Bahamas	89.1	100.9		125.5	86.2	69.2
23	Paraguay	89.9	91.0		74.9	105.5	83.7
24	Suriname	90.9	108.5		71.1	110.1	75.5
25	Antigua & Barbuda	91.0	103.2		92.9	69.8	123.5
26	St Vincent & Grenadines	91.1	92.0		97.3	94.4	84.8
27	Grenada	91.8	125.0		79.0	81.0	107.1
28	Venezuela	92.6	86.1		66.3	101.7	96.2
29	St Lucia	92.9	103.6		99.5	91.9	90.3
30	Honduras	93.7	84.6		93.2	112.1	79.4
31	St Kitts & Nevis	94.9	96.9		84.2	101.0	98.9
32	Nicaragua	95.0	80.5		82.3	117.1	93.3
33	Guyana	97.3	87.4		113.1	104.5	91.5
34	Belize	99.2	91.3		127.3	106.7	86.3
35	Haiti	114.9	105.8		123.9	117.2	102.6
	The Americas Avg	81.5	92.66		77.96	92.66	71.80
	World Avg	88.4	84.93		80.33	96.86	89.80
q=35.

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: Which are the Best Countries in the World? The Social and Moral Development Index.

For more, see:

• "Which are the Countries for International Contributions, Creativity, Peace and Inequality?" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

3. Demographics and Migration

#birth_control #demographics #dominica #emigration #health #immigration #life_expectancy #longevity #migration #overpopulation #population #the_americas

Population:

Pos.		Population (2018) Population2	Life Expectancy (2021) Higher is better Years3	Fertility Rate (2022) 2.0 is best11	Old-Age Dependency Ratio (2016) Lower is better Per 10012
1	Antigua & Barbuda	96 286	78.5	1.58	19.0
2	Argentina	44.4m	75.4	1.88	20.3
3	Bahamas	0.4m	71.6	1.38	22.4
4	Barbados	0.3m	77.6	1.63	35.6
5	Belize	0.4m	70.5	1.99	08.3
6	Bolivia	11.4m	63.6	2.58	12.7
7	Brazil	209.5m	72.8	1.63	19.9
8	Canada	37.1m	82.7	1.33	38.5
9	Chile	18.7m	78.9	1.54	27.0
10	Colombia	49.7m	72.8	1.69	18.8
11	Costa Rica	5.0m	77.0	1.52	22.6
12	Cuba	11.3m	73.7	1.45	36.2
13	Dominica	71 625	72.8	1.59
14	Dominican Rep.	10.6m	72.6	2.25	15.6
15	Ecuador	17.1m	73.7	2.00	16.0
16	El Salvador	6.4m	70.7	1.79	17.3
17	Grenada	0.1m	74.9	1.99	16.2
18	Guatemala	17.2m	69.2	2.35	09.5
19	Guyana	0.8m	65.7	2.37	15.0
20	Haiti	11.1m	63.2	2.77	09.6
21	Honduras	9.6m	70.1	2.34	11.0
22	Jamaica	2.9m	70.5	1.34	21.0
23	Mexico	126.2m	70.2	1.80	15.4
24	Nicaragua	6.5m	73.8	2.28	13.1
25	Panama	4.2m	76.2	2.30	17.7
26	Paraguay	7.0m	70.3	2.44	13.2
27	Peru	32.0m	72.4	2.16	15.5
28	St Kitts & Nevis	52 441	71.7	1.51
29	St Lucia	0.2m	71.1	1.39	19.9
30	St Vincent & Grenadines	0.1m	69.6	1.78	19.7
31	Suriname	0.6m	70.3	2.32	16.2
32	Trinidad & Tobago	1.4m	73.0	1.61	21.9
33	USA	327.1m	77.2	1.67	33.8
34	Uruguay	3.4m	75.4	1.48	26.8
35	Venezuela	28.9m	70.6	2.19	15.6
36	St Martin			2.39
37	Bermuda			1.30
38	British Virgin Islands			1.02
39	Turks & Caicos Islands			1.66
40	Puerto Rico			0.90
41	US Virgin Islands			2.00
42	Greenland			1.84
43	Aruba			1.18
44	Curaço			1.30
	The Americas Avg	28.6m	72.58	1.80	19.4
	World Avg	39.0m	71.28	2.47	18.3
q=44. No data: 1413

Migration:

Covering North America, Central America and the Caribbean as well as South America, this region of the world has wildly variant migration rates across its disparate economies. The countries in The Americas with the highest percent of immigrants in their populations are Antigua & Barbuda (28.1%), Canada (21.5%) and Belize (16.0%), although the average for The Americas is 6%. And emigration: Dominica (104.8%), Grenada (65.5%) and St Kitts & Nevis (61.1%), whilst the continental average of emigrants for a country is 21%. Dominica is going through an era of mass deportations and high migration.

For full commentary and data, see:

• Which Country in the Americas Has the Most Immigrants Or Emigrants?

4. Responsibility Towards The Environment

#biodiversity #climate_change #deforestation #energy #environmentalism #food #internationalism #meat #over-exploitation #sustainability #the_environment #veganism #vegetarianism

We have known for a long term that we must protect the environment from habitation destruction, over-exploitation, pollution, and the emissions that cause climate change. In 1998, Greenpeace wrote that "Environment can no longer be meaningfully separated from health, quality of life, democracy, education, economy or trade"₁₄. What countries have been doing the right thing, via legislation and national culture? All countries' current and historical approach towards the environment is gauged via 21 datasets, including multiple decades of data on its forested percent change 2000-2020, its environmental performance, energy to GDP efficiency, its sign-up rate to major international accords on protecting the environment, the rate of rational beliefs on the environment in the population, reducing annual meat consumption per person and its score on the Green Future Index.

The countries that do the best (Sri Lanka, Uruguay and Switzerland) tend to have avoided the excesses of early industrial countries, and have not yet repeated the same mistakes of environmental destruction - at least, not on the same scale. The regions with the best average results per country are Central America, South America and Scandinavia. The worst are Eritrea, The Vatican City and Timor-Leste (E. Timor), and the worst regions Micronesia, Australasia and Melanesia.

For more, see:

• "Countries With the Best Environmental Records" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

Pos.		Forest Area Change 2000-2020 Higher is better15	Environmental Performance (2018) Higher is better16	Energy to GDP Efficiency (2022) Lower is better Avg17	International Accords on the Environment Higher is better Avg Rate	Rational Beliefs on the Environment (2011) Higher is better %18	Meat Consumption (2021) Lower is better kg19	Green Future Index (2023) Higher is better Score20
1	Antigua & Barbuda	-14.6%	59.2		57%		85.8
2	Argentina	-14.9%	59.3	1.19	64%	78.3%	115.5	4.3
3	Bahamas	0.0%	55.0		60%		111.9
4	Barbados	0.0%	55.8	2.04	54%		86.4
5	Belize	-12.9%	57.8		57%	50.6%	56.6
6	Bolivia	-7.9%	56.0	1.11	62%	69.3%	78.4
7	Brazil	-10.1%	60.7	1.16	71%	77.1%	98.8	4.7
8	Canada	-0.3%	72.2	2.29	82%	41.2%	86.9	5.7
9	Chile	14.6%	57.5	1.11	71%	63.8%	97.8	5.1
10	Colombia	-5.8%	65.2	0.83	58%	70.3%	60.9	4.8
11	Costa Rica	6.2%	67.9	0.81	69%	74.2%	62.2	5.3
12	Cuba	31.0%	63.4	1.25	55%		49.6
13	Dominica	0.0%	59.4	1.20	54%		81.6
14	Dominican Rep.	8.5%	64.7	0.63	54%	50.2%	53.5	4.0
15	Ecuador	-9.2%	57.4	1.22	72%	57.2%	50.9	4.1
16	El Salvador	-13.8%	53.9	0.79	64%	66.8%	43.9
17	Grenada	0.0%	50.9		41%		78.6
18	Guatemala	-16.8%	52.3	0.74	66%	70.9%	42.1	3.6
19	Guyana	-0.8%	47.9		63%	30.1%	72.4
20	Haiti	-8.8%	33.7	0.63	25%	10.0%	21.6
21	Honduras	-6.3%	51.5	1.15	57%	48.1%	38.8
22	Jamaica	14.1%	58.6	1.83	53%		63.4
23	Mexico	-4.0%	59.7	1.10	69%	67.0%	75.4	4.5
24	Nicaragua	-41.1%	55.0	0.96	64%	67.0%	31.5
25	Panama	-5.2%	62.7	1.49	74%	64.6%	85.0
26	Paraguay	-32.6%	53.9	1.79	69%	68.9%	36.4	3.6
27	Peru	-4.0%	61.9	0.99	72%	63.9%	54.0	4.0
28	St Kitts & Nevis	0.0%			54%		96.6
29	St Lucia	-1.1%	56.2	1.65	56%		89.6
30	St Vincent & Grenadines	0.0%	66.5		52%		109.5
31	Suriname	-0.9%	54.2		52%		60.8
32	Trinidad & Tobago	-3.6%	67.4	4.64	63%	74.5%	58.5
33	USA	2.1%	71.2	1.36	47%	19.7%	126.8	5.4
34	Uruguay	43.8%	64.7	0.96	74%	62.4%	62.8	5.1
35	Venezuela	-6.0%	63.9	4.18	70%	60.1%	35.6
36	St Barthelemy	0.0%
37	St Martin	0.0%
38	St Pierre & Miquelon	-29.1%
39	Anguilla	0.0%
40	Bermuda	0.0%
41	British Virgin Islands	-1.4%
42	Cayman Islands	-1.6%
43	Falkland Islands	0.0%
44	Montserrat	0.0%
45	Turks & Caicos Islands	0.0%
46	Puerto Rico	15.5%		0.68
47	US Virgin Islands	-1.9%
48	Greenland	0.0%
49	French Guiana	-1.0%
50	Guadeloupe	-0.5%
51	Martinique	7.2%
52	Aruba	0.0%
53	Curaço	0.0%
	The Americas Avg	-2.1%	58.8	1.42	60.7%	58.6%	70.3	4.6
	World Avg	-0.1%	56.4	1.23	57.5%	39.9%	52.5	4.8
q=53. No data: 521

5. Culture, Peace and Inequality

#capitalism #charity #corruption #culture #economics #equality #extremism #happiness #health #human_development #inequality #internationalism #life_expectancy #morals #peace #politics #poverty #religious_violence #social_development #terrorism

This is the final pillar of the Social and Moral Development Index; it has 32 datasets, including multiple decades of data on World Giving Index, resisting corruption, overall happiness, Creativity and Culture, passport utility (so far), Open Trading, Aid and Development, its Global Peace Index rating, Peacekeeping and Security, Refugees and UN Treaties, the impact of terrorism, poverty (so far), Inequality in Life Expectancy, Income Inequality (Gini Coefficient) and Multidimensional Poverty.

For more, see:

• "Which are the Countries for International Contributions, Creativity, Peace and Inequality?" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

National Culture:

Pos.		World Giving Index (2022) Higher is better %22	Corruption (2022) Higher is better Points23	Happiness (2024) Higher is better Score24	Creativity & Culture (2017) Lower is better Rank25	Passport Reach (2020s) Higher is better Q26	Open Trading, Aid & Development (2017) Lower is better Rank25
1	Antigua & Barbuda				74	151.3	139
2	Argentina	47.0	38.0	6.4	113	170.5	100
3	Bahamas		64.0		52	156.3	127
4	Barbados		65.0		18	162.3	32
5	Belize			6.7	36	102.0	141
6	Bolivia	43.0	31.0	5.9	98	79.3	106
7	Brazil	47.0	38.0	6.5	119	170.2	162
8	Canada	51.0	74.0	6.8	25	185.2	27
9	Chile	38.0	67.0	6.4	51	174.7	73
10	Colombia	42.0	39.0	6.0	118	131.2	119
11	Costa Rica	44.0	54.0	7.3	32	150.0	82
12	Cuba		45.0			63.3
13	Dominica		55.0		73	143.3	104
14	Dominican Rep.	44.0	32.0	5.8	125	70.5	76
15	Ecuador	42.0	36.0	6.0	106	92.3	110
16	El Salvador	36.0	33.0	6.5	99	134.2	58
17	Grenada		52.0		50	145.5	155
18	Guatemala		24.0	6.4	83	133.7	78
19	Guyana		40.0		68	88.7	118
20	Haiti		17.0		92	50.2	53
21	Honduras	46.0	23.0	6.0	120	133.0	64
22	Jamaica	46.0	44.0	5.9	86	86.8	146
23	Mexico	44.0	31.0	7.0	64	159.0	108
24	Nicaragua	40.0	19.0	6.3	100	127.8	20
25	Panama	36.0	36.0	6.4	117	144.2	68
26	Paraguay	44.0	28.0	6.2	140	142.5	154
27	Peru	39.0	36.0	5.9	90	137.2	96
28	St Kitts & Nevis					156.3
29	St Lucia		55.0		24	146.5	125
30	St Vincent & Grenadines		60.0		43	152.5	144
31	Suriname		40.0		80	77.8	151
32	Trinidad & Tobago		42.0	5.9	71	150.3	28
33	USA	59.0	69.0	6.7	67	185.7	62
34	Uruguay	40.0	74.0	6.7	59	154.0	135
35	Venezuela	45.0	14.0	5.7	154	126.8	156
	The Americas Avg	43.7	42.97	6.31	80.2	132.4	100.5
	World Avg	39.6	42.98	5.58	82.0	108.8	82.0
q=35. No data: 2327

Transparency International's analysis of corruption throughout The Americas concludes that "a lack of bold, decisive action to fight corruption and strengthen public institutions is fuelling organised criminal activities and other sources of violence. It is also undermining democracy, human rights and development"₂₈. With 100 being "very clean", Uruguay and Canada score in the 70s, whilst in the 60s sit the USA, Chile, Barbados, Bahamas and St Vincent and the Grenadines. The three countries at the bottom all score under 20; they are Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua. They are some of the poorest countries in the region who can least afford to lose finances through corruption, but, who are also the most unable to combat it.

Peace Versus Instability:

Pos.		Global Peace Index (2023) Lower is better Score29	Peacekeeping & Security (2017) Lower is better Rank25	Refugees & UN Treaties (2017) Lower is better Rank25	Impact of Terrorism (2019) Lower is better Score30
1	Antigua & Barbuda		103	131
2	Argentina	1.84	39	49	1.68
3	Bahamas		94	148
4	Barbados		126	103
5	Belize		143	113
6	Bolivia	2.00	45	46	3.39
7	Brazil	2.46	61	50	2.53
8	Canada	1.35	41	11	3.59
9	Chile	1.87	19	26	4.12
10	Colombia	2.69	15	121	5.91
11	Costa Rica	1.73	16	22	0.00
12	Cuba	2.10
13	Dominica		137	116
14	Dominican Rep.	2.02	129	51	0.18
15	Ecuador	2.10	24	80	2.46
16	El Salvador	2.28	134	147	0.00
17	Grenada		62	152
18	Guatemala	2.13	23	71	1.33
19	Guyana	2.13	75	154	0.04
20	Haiti	2.40	144	140	2.18
21	Honduras	2.27	88	122	0.99
22	Jamaica	1.99	74	86	0.47
23	Mexico	2.60	85	99	4.08
24	Nicaragua	2.29	96	87	2.95
25	Panama	1.94	110	27	0.04
26	Paraguay	1.94	30	82	3.12
27	Peru	2.13	97	95	2.84
28	St Lucia		139	157
29	St Vincent & Grenadines		142	134
30	Suriname		114	105
31	Trinidad & Tobago	1.95	116	136	0.02
32	USA	2.45	72	29	5.69
33	Uruguay	1.80	6	37	0.17
34	Venezuela	2.69	118	91	4.10
	The Americas Avg	2.13	82.3	91.5	2.16
	World Avg	2.07	82.0	82.0	2.78
q=34. No data: 2431

Economic Inequality and Poverty:

Pos.		Poverty (2020s) Lower is better %32	Inequality in Life Expectancy (2019) Lower is better33	Income Inequality (Gini Coefficient) (2023) Lower is better %34	Multidimensional Poverty (2018) Lower is better Severity35
1	Argentina	1.40%	8.60	40.7%36
2	Bahamas		6.80
3	Barbados		8.70		.009
4	Belize		11.10	57.7%37	.017
5	Bolivia	3.35%	22.50	40.9%38	.094
6	Brazil	4.73%	10.90	52.0%36	.01639
7	Canada	0.25%	4.60	31.7%40
8	Chile	1.12%	6.30	43.0%36
9	Colombia	10.42%	10.70	54.8%36	.020
10	Costa Rica	1.99%	7.10	46.7%41
11	Cuba		5.10
12	Dominican Rep.	1.12%	17.00	37.0%36	.015
13	Ecuador	6.03%	11.50	44.6%41	.018
14	El Salvador	4.99%	12.50	38.8%36	.032
15	Grenada		11.20	43.8%42
16	Guatemala	9.66%	14.60	48.3%43	.134
17	Guyana		19.00		.014
18	Haiti		32.20	41.1%44	.200
19	Honduras	16.37%	13.30	48.2%40	.090
20	Jamaica	1.39%	10.00	40.2%38	.018
21	Mexico	3.29%	10.50	43.5%36	.025
22	Nicaragua		13.10	46.2%43	.074
23	Panama	3.39%	12.00	48.9%41
24	Paraguay	2.43%	13.80	45.1%36	.019
25	Peru	6.27%	10.80	40.3%36	.053
26	St Lucia		10.60	43.7%45	.007
27	St Vincent & Grenadines		11.30
28	Suriname	2.18%	12.80	39.2%36	.041
29	Trinidad & Tobago		14.90		.002
30	USA	0.87%	6.30	41.3%36
31	Uruguay	0.20%	7.90	40.6%36
32	Venezuela		17.10	44.7%46
	The Americas Avg	4.07%	12.03	44.0%	.045
	World Avg	11.40%	14.59	36.5%	.154
q=32. No data: 2647

6. Modernity and Learning

#education #english #intelligence #it_security #maths #metric #modernity #politics #religion #religiosity #research #science #secularisation #technology #the_internet

The most modern countries, with the best results from education, the highest levels of research, and with the easiest access to information on the Internet, are The Vatican City, Finland and Belgium₄₈. The worst countries are S. Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia₄₈. Despite improves in global education, access to tertiary (adult) education is becoming increasingly unequal between the rich haves and the poor have-nots₄₉.

“Education, at all levels and ages, is the single most vital support for equality as well as being a country's most vital economic and social resource. [...] Every successful aspirant to modernisation and economic development, from Japan to South Korea, China to Chile, has got there with a big emphasis on education.”

Bill Emmott (2017)₅₀

23 datasets are used to calculate points for each country, including multiple decades of data on Research and Development, Intellectual Endeavours, metric system adoption rate, Religiosity, IQ, Secondary Education, Length of Schooling, Maths, Science & Reading, the percent of citizens with access to the internet, Freedom On The Internet, IT Security, IPv6 Uptake and digital quality of life. The regions with the best average results per country are Scandinavia, Baltic States and Europe₄₈, whereas the worst are Melanesia, Africa and Micronesia₄₈.

For more, see:

• " Which Countries are Most Modern, With the Best Education and Internet Access?" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

Modernity:

Pos.		Research & Development (2016) Higher is better % RDP PPP	Intellectual Endeavours (2017) Lower is better Rank25	Metric (2025) Higher is better %51	Religiosity (2018) Lower is better %52	IQ (2006) Higher is better53
1	Antigua & Barbuda		91	90
2	Argentina	0.5854	75	95	43	93
3	Bahamas		114	85
4	Barbados		35	90
5	Belize		112	85
6	Bolivia	0.1655	161	95	71	87
7	Brazil	1.1556	109	95	72	87
8	Canada	1.6157	29	95	27	99
9	Chile	0.3857	74	95	41	90
10	Colombia	0.0458	78	95	77	84
11	Costa Rica	0.4759	76	95	76	89
12	Cuba	0.4758		95		85
13	Dominica		51	90
14	Dominican Rep.		122	95	78	82
15	Ecuador	0.3459	139	95	76	88
16	El Salvador	0.0356	121	95	85	80
17	Grenada		22	90
18	Guatemala	0.0456	119	95	89	79
19	Guyana		158	90
20	Haiti		132	90		67
21	Honduras	0.0460	136	95	90	81
22	Jamaica		77	90		71
23	Mexico	0.5457	95	95	45	88
24	Nicaragua		110	95	88	81
25	Panama	0.1859	99	95	61	84
26	Paraguay	0.0956	155	95	56	84
27	Peru	0.1061	102	95	73	85
28	St Kitts & Nevis			90
29	St Lucia		54	90
30	St Vincent & Grenadines		97	90
31	Suriname		134	95
32	Trinidad & Tobago	0.0556	93	90		85
33	USA	2.7454	38	30	53	98
34	Uruguay	0.2356	135	95	29	96
35	Venezuela		149	95	67	84
36	Bermuda	0.2358
37	Puerto Rico	0.4458		50	77
	The Americas Avg	0.47	99.8	90	65.4	85.3
	World Avg	0.84	82.0	92	54.3	85.6
q=37. No data: 2162

Education:

Pos.		Secondary Education (2018) Higher is better63	Length of Schooling (2021) Higher is better Years64	Maths, Science & Reading (2015) Higher is better Score65
1	Antigua & Barbuda		14.2
2	Argentina	64.8%	17.9	140666
3	Bahamas	88.4%	12.9
4	Barbados	92.9%	15.7
5	Belize	78.6%	13.0
6	Bolivia	58.8%	14.9
7	Brazil	59.5%	15.6	1185
8	Canada	100.0%	16.4	1571
9	Chile	79.3%	16.7	1329
10	Colombia	52.0%	14.4	1231
11	Costa Rica	52.9%	16.5	1247
12	Cuba	87.4%	14.4
13	Dominica		13.3
14	Dominican Rep.	56.6%	14.5	1018
15	Ecuador	51.9%	14.6
16	El Salvador	42.8%	12.7
17	Grenada		18.7
18	Guatemala	37.8%	10.6
19	Guyana	63.3%	12.5
20	Haiti	33.2%	9.7
21	Honduras	33.5%	10.1
22	Jamaica	66.3%	13.4
23	Mexico	59.7%	14.9	1247
24	Nicaragua	47.5%	12.6
25	Panama	72.2%	13.1
26	Paraguay	47.8%	13.0
27	Peru	62.2%	15.4	1182
28	St Kitts & Nevis		15.4
29	St Lucia	46.0%	12.9
30	St Vincent & Grenadines		14.7
31	Suriname	60.5%	13.0
32	Trinidad & Tobago	73.4%	14.5	1269
33	USA	95.6%	16.3	1463
34	Uruguay	56.0%	16.8	1290
35	Venezuela	69.2%	12.8
	The Americas Avg	63.0%	14.2	1287
	World Avg	63.0%	13.5	1389
q=35. No data: 2327

Technology and Information:

Pos.		Internet Users (2016) Higher is better67	Internet Freedom (2012) Lower is better68	IT Security (2013) Lower is better69	IPv6 Uptake (2017) Higher is better Ratio70	Digital Quality of Life (2024) Higher is better71
1	Antigua & Barbuda	65%			0.0
2	Argentina	69%	26	0.27	1.4	56.2%
3	Bahamas	85%			0.0
4	Barbados	80%			0.0
5	Belize	45%		0.11	0.0
6	Bolivia	41%			5.0	33.1%
7	Brazil	66%	27	1.02	13.9	50.9%
8	Canada	89%		0.96	18.3	63.4%
9	Chile	78%		0.66	0.0	55.0%
10	Colombia	57%		0.22	0.0	49.8%
11	Costa Rica	56%			0.1	46.9%
12	Cuba	32%	86		0.0
13	Dominica	66%			0.0
14	Dominican Rep.	52%			1.1	43.4%
15	Ecuador	43%			18.2	43.3%
16	El Salvador	38%			0.0	30.0%
17	Grenada	39%			0.0
18	Guatemala	27%			6.9	31.0%
19	Guyana	40%			0.0
20	Haiti	12%
21	Honduras	22%			0.0	28.5%
22	Jamaica	43%			0.0	38.9%
23	Mexico	45%	37	0.16	0.4	44.6%
24	Nicaragua	19%			0.0
25	Panama	45%			0.1	41.6%
26	Paraguay	47%			0.0	41.2%
27	Peru	41%		0.30	18.3	49.9%
28	St Kitts & Nevis	66%			0.6
29	St Lucia	59%			0.0
30	St Vincent & Grenadines	60%			0.0
31	Suriname	42%			0.0
32	Trinidad & Tobago	69%			14.5	38.1%
33	USA	89%	12	3.68	35.0	67.5%
34	Uruguay	65%			0.3	54.8%
35	Venezuela	58%	48		0.0	30.1%
36	Bermuda	97%			0.0
37	British Virgin Islands			1.08
38	Cayman Islands	74%			0.0
39	Puerto Rico	83%			0.2
40	US Virgin Islands	54%			0.0
41	Greenland	67%			0.0
42	Aruba	88%			0.0
	The Americas Avg	56.4%	39.3	0.84	3.36	44.7%
	World Avg	48.1%	46.7	0.98	3.82	48.4%
q=42. No data: 1672

7. Health

#alcohol #birth_control #demographics #health #life_expectancy #longevity #mental_health #obesity #overpopulation #parenting #population #smoking #suicide #vaccines

The countries with the best overall approach to public health, in terms of both public policy and individual lifestyle choices, are Monaco, Liechtenstein and San Marino₇₃. These countries are worth emulating. And, although often through no fault of the average citizen, the worst countries are Angola, Somalia and S. Sudan₇₃.

36 datasets are used to calculate points for each country, including multiple decades of data on its average life expectancy, its alcohol consumption rate, its fertility rate, its smoking rate, its suicide rate, its food aid and health contributions and WHO compliance, the prevalence of overweight adults, obesity rate, its adolescent birth rate, its immunizations take-up and childhood mortality (so far). The regions with the best average results per country are Scandinavia, Europe and The Mediterranean₇₃, whereas the worst are Micronesia, Africa and Melanesia₇₃.

For more, see:

• "Countries With the Healthiest Cultures and Health Policies" by Vexen Crabtree (2025).

Health:

Pos.		Life Expectancy (2021) Higher is better Years3	Alcohol Consumption (2016) Lower is better Per Capita74	Fertility Rate (2022) 2.0 is best11	Smoking in the 2020s Lower is better %75	Suicide Rate (2013) Per 100k76	Food Aid, Health Contributions & WHO Compliance (2017) Lower is better Rank25	Overweight Adults (1976) Lower is better %77	Adult Obesity (2022) Lower is better %78
1	Antigua & Barbuda	78.5	7.0	1.58			124	25.8	34.1%
2	Argentina	75.4	9.8	1.88	23.8%	15.6	122	40.4	36.0%
3	Bahamas	71.6	4.4	1.38	11.3%	2.5	155	38.8	47.6%
4	Barbados	77.6	9.6	1.63	7.0%	7.3	103	29.5	38.2%
5	Belize	70.5	6.8	1.99	8.8%	7.3	158	32.4	41.9%
6	Bolivia	63.6	4.8	2.58	12.4%		85	28.1	27.8%
7	Brazil	72.8	7.8	1.63	12.2%	9.7	40	28.2	28.8%
8	Canada	82.7	8.9	1.33	12.1%	22.7	8	40.6	27.3%
9	Chile	78.9	9.3	1.54	28.8%	22.4	91	40.4	39.5%
10	Colombia	72.8	5.8	1.69	8.2%	9.9	98	32.7	23.9%
11	Costa Rica	77.0	4.8	1.52	8.9%	12.1	110	28.6	32.0%
12	Cuba	73.7	6.1	1.45	17.5%	24.5		32.1	23.5%
13	Dominica	72.8	8.2	1.59			111	28.0	31.5%
14	Dominican Rep.	72.6	6.9	2.25	10.5%	4.6	81	27.3	29.1%
15	Ecuador	73.7	4.4	2.00	10.2%	14.1	50	29.0	27.0%
16	El Salvador	70.7	3.8	1.79	8.9%	16.5	42	29.7	29.9%
17	Grenada	74.9	9.3	1.99		0	133	26.2	30.5%
18	Guatemala	69.2	2.5	2.35	12.0%	7.3	77	28.2	25.2%
19	Guyana	65.7	6.3	2.37	11.2%	52.4	97	24.3	28.0%
20	Haiti	63.2	5.8	2.77	8.1%	0	115	20.2	10.2%
21	Honduras	70.1	4.0	2.34	12.4%		62	25.5	28.5%
22	Jamaica	70.5	4.2	1.34	9.7%		147	28.0	34.2%
23	Mexico	70.2	6.5	1.80	14.9%	8.5	45	38.1	36.1%
24	Nicaragua	73.8	5.2	2.28		11.6	30	32.2	32.4%
25	Panama	76.2	7.9	2.30	5.2%	10.9	54	31.2	36.1%
26	Paraguay	70.3	7.2	2.44	10.8%	7.1	69	25.1	32.1%
27	Peru	72.4	6.3	2.16	7.2%	2.9	113	33.5	27.2%
28	St Kitts & Nevis	71.7	9.4	1.51				27.2	46.6%
29	St Lucia	71.1	9.9	1.39	13.9%	4.9	151	24.0	33.9%
30	St Vincent & Grenadines	69.6	8.2	1.78		7.3	162	25.9	33.6%
31	Suriname	70.3	5.1	2.32		28.7	132	31.0	29.0%
32	Trinidad & Tobago	73.0	8.4	1.61		21.7	152	20.6	29.2%
33	USA	77.2	9.8	1.67	24.4%	22.2	10	41.6	42.9%
34	Uruguay	75.4	10.8	1.48	20.5%	32.3	80	40.5	34.7%
35	Venezuela	70.6	5.6	2.19		6.5	104	40.0	22.8%
36	St Martin			2.39
37	Bermuda			1.30					34.0%
38	British Virgin Islands			1.02
39	Turks & Caicos Islands			1.66
40	Puerto Rico			0.90					41.0%
41	US Virgin Islands			2.00
42	Greenland			1.84					28.2%
43	Aruba			1.18
44	Curaço			1.30
	The Americas Avg	72.58	6.9	1.80	12.7%	13.57	94.3	30.7	32.0%
	World Avg	71.28	6.2	2.47	20.0%	20.93	82.0	27.1	24.7%
q=44. No data: 1413

Children's Health:

Pos.		Adolescent Birth Rate (2022) Lower is better Per 100079	Infant Immunizations 2011-2015 (2015) Higher is better Avg %80	Infant Mortality (2020s) Lower is better Per 100081
1	Antigua & Barbuda	32.3	98.0	11.08
2	Argentina	37.9	93.7	12.18
3	Bahamas	25.1	96.2	15.20
4	Barbados	41.9	92.1	12.81
5	Belize	56.6	95.1	16.05
6	Bolivia	63.1	94.2	33.37
7	Brazil	43.6	96.7	16.51
8	Canada	6.6	85.2	5.40
9	Chile	22.8	93.3	7.93
10	Colombia	57.6	88.4	15.90
11	Costa Rica	35.7	88.5	9.40
12	Cuba	48.9	97.9	6.25
13	Dominica	37.9	97.1	28.88
14	Dominican Rep.	63.2	86.3	34.90
15	Ecuador	62.1	86.8	15.98
16	El Salvador	54.5	92.4	15.03
17	Grenada	32.1	95.2	17.24
18	Guatemala	63.2	85.2	29.19
19	Guyana	64.6	97.0	33.43
20	Haiti	51.8	65.7	76.58
21	Honduras	71.3	88.8	20.99
22	Jamaica	32.0	90.9	18.79
23	Mexico	53.7	91.6	16.56
24	Nicaragua	84.0	95.9	19.21
25	Panama	68.5	86.1	17.26
26	Paraguay	69.9	88.1	22.61
27	Peru	56.1	89.3	18.09
28	St Kitts & Nevis	36.8	96.3	19.01
29	St Lucia	36.3	98.2	17.37
30	St Vincent & Grenadines	46.5	97.2	17.32
31	Suriname	55.2	87.2	20.80
32	Trinidad & Tobago	37.7	91.4	22.83
33	USA	15.1	92.8	6.83
34	Uruguay	35.2	95.6	9.08
35	Venezuela	82.0	80.6	20.47
36	British Virgin Islands			15.26
37	Turks & Caicos Islands			6.89
	The Americas Avg	48.1	91.3	18.99
	World Avg	43.8	88.3	32.19
q=37. No data: 2182

8. Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance

#equality #freedom #gender_equality #human_rights #morals #politics #prejudice #The_Americas #tolerance

Human Rights, Equality & Tolerance (2025)10
Pos.		Lower is better Avg Rank10
1	Canada	16.7
2	Uruguay	31.2
3	Costa Rica	38.8
4	USA	47.4
5	Argentina	50.3
6	Brazil	54.1
7	Chile	60.3
8	Bolivia	65.5
9	Mexico	66.7
10	Peru	67.9
	...
33	Cuba	106.0
34	Grenada	107.1
35	Antigua & Barbuda	123.5
	The Americas Avg	71.80
	World Avg	89.80
q=35.

The Americas encompass countries that range widely on economic and democratic scales; from the well-developed to the politically anarchic; from the rich to the poor. It's far from the case that rich countries can afford to put more effort into human rights, tolerance and equality, compared with poor countries. Statistical analysis shows that these areas of development are largely a result of cultural factors and popular willpower, rather than wealth. The best countries in The Americas at protecting human rights, engendering tolerance and supporting equality, are Canada, Uruguay and Costa Rica and the continent as a whole does better than the global average. The worst countries are Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada and Cuba.

For full commentary and data, see:

• The Americas: Which Countries are Best at Human Rights, Tolerance and Equality?

9. Religion and Beliefs

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

Pos.		Religiosity (2018) Lower is better %52	Disbelief In God (2007) Higher is better %83	Jews (2010) %84	Christians (2010) %84	Muslims (2010) %84	Hindus (2010) %84	Buddhists (2010) %84	Folk Religion (2010) %84	Unaffiliated (2010) %84
1	Argentina	43	4	0.4	88.5	0.9	0.0	0.0	1.0	9.2
2	Bahamas			0.0	97.6	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.3	1.9
3	Barbados			0.0	77.3	0.7	0.5	0.1	1.2	20.1
4	Belize			0.2	74.4	0.2	0.2	0.3	9.2	15.6
5	Bolivia	71	1	0.0	88.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.5	9.5
6	Brazil	72	1	0.0	80.7	0.0	0.0	0.1	5.7	13.5
7	Canada	27	22	0.9	53.3	4.9	1.5	1.7	3.0	34.6
8	Chile	41	2	0.1	68.3	0.1	0.0	0.0	1.2	30.3
9	Colombia	77	1	0.0	86.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.8	9.9
10	Costa Rica	76	1	0.1	87.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.9	10.1
11	Cuba		40	0.0	60.7	0.1	0.2	0.0	17.4	21.6
12	Dominican Rep.	78	7	0.0	77.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.7	19.6
13	Ecuador	76	1	0.0	88.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.0	8.4
14	El Salvador	85	1	0.0	87.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	11.9
15	Grenada			0.0	87.5	0.4	0.2	0.0	6.2	5.8
16	Guatemala	89	1	0.0	92.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.0	6.0
17	Guyana			0.0	65.9	6.5	23.4	0.0	1.2	2.9
18	Haiti		0	0.0	88.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.8	9.4
19	Honduras	90	1	0.0	88.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.8	9.7
20	Jamaica		3	0.0	68.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	7.6	23.7
21	Mexico	45	4	0.0	89.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	10.6
22	Nicaragua	88	1	0.0	84.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.9	13.3
23	Panama	61	1	0.2	91.2	0.1	0.1	0.2	2.1	6.2
24	Paraguay	56	1	0.0	93.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.2	4.2
25	Peru	73	1	0.0	94.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	5.1
26	St Lucia			0.0	91.7	0.1	0.3	0.0	2.0	5.9
27	St Vincent & Grenadines			0.0	86.3	0.1	0.1	0.0	5.6	7.9
28	Suriname			0.0	52.8	13.1	22.5	0.4	3.1	8.1
29	Trinidad & Tobago		9	0.0	70.0	5.5	20.6	0.0	1.4	2.4
30	USA	53	10	1.7	64.0	1.2	0.9	1.3	1.2	29.7
31	Uruguay	29	12	0.5	44.5	0.1	0.0	0.0	2.5	52.4
32	Venezuela	67	1	0.0	88.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.1	9.7
33	Puerto Rico	77		0.0	88.8	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.3	10.4
34	US Virgin Islands			0.3	94.5	0.1	0.4	0.0	0.6	4.0
35	French Guiana			0.0	84.2	0.9	1.6	0.6	9.2	3.4
36	Guadeloupe			0.4	95.9	0.4	0.5	0.2	0.2	2.5
37	Martinique			0.0	96.0	0.2	0.2	0.0	0.7	2.7
38	Aruba			0.4	81.4	0.3	0.3	0.5	11.2	5.9
39	Curaço			0.2	90.6	0.5	2.0	0.3	0.4	5.9
	The Americas Avg	65.4	5.3	0.1	81.8	0.9	1.9	0.2	3.1	11.9
	World Avg	54.3	9.9	0.4	53.5	26.5	2.3	3.8	2.5	10.8
q=39. No data: 1985

Links:

• Compare to other regions of the world
• A List of All Religions and Belief Systems
• Institutionalized Religions Have Their Numbers Inflated by National Polls
• Secularisation Theory: Will Modern Society Reject Religion? What is Secularism?
• Human Religions