Global Competetiveness Report

Social Cohesion
Executive summary
In order to capture the full reality of the social
status of a nation, indicators covering a
variety of issues have been incorporated:
health status, availability and affordability of
health care systems, equal opportunity
factors (gender equality, economic equality),
demographic balance, crime levels, public
services, freedom indicators (freedom of
expression, human rights), and qualitative life
satisfaction indicators compiled by other
research institutions. All indicators have been
analysed for current performance as well as
the trend over recent years in order to
incorporate the future performance outlook.
The ranking is dominated by the
Scandinavian and Central European
countries, with only Canada and Japan
breaking into the top 20. While for poor
countries a low score indicates difficulties in
achieving sustainable development, for high
income countries a low score indicates a
society in decline. Countries with a low Social
Cohesion score are likely to face some of the
following problems:
• Higher child mortality and generally lower
health levels, leading to higher long-term
costs and lower worker productivity
• Higher crime rates due to lack of
economic opportunities or high income
inequality, leading to increased insecurity,
additional security cost, and barriers to
investment
• General lower life satisfaction, leading to
lower motivation and efficiency
For a additional information and detailed
analysis please refer to the Social Cohesion
section or the ranking tables.
Social Cohesion Ranking (selection)
Country Rank Score
Norway 1 78.3
Iceland 2 76.1
Denmark 3 75.5
Finland 4 75.0
Ireland 5 74.9
Sweden 6 73.7
Austria 7 73.0
Germany 8 71.5
Switzerland 9 71.1
Japan 10 69.8
Netherlands 12 66.1
Canada 16 64.8
Poland 17 64.4
France 20 62.1
New Zealand 21 62.0
Australia 22 60.8
Spain 23 57.8
United Kingdom 24 57.8
Egypt 27 56.6
Greece 31 55.0
Italy 36 53.5
Singapore 40 52.0
South Korea 41 51.6
United Arab Emirates 43 50.2
Kuwait 47 48.7
Portugal 49 48.2
Vietnam 52 47.4
China 53 47.3
Argentina 55 46.3
Bangladesh 58 46.1
Malaysia 61 45.8
Jordan 64 45.2
Indonesia 69 44.8
India 71 44.2
USA 78 42.6
Morocco 80 41.6
Saudi Arabia 84 40.5
Turkey 85 39.8
Chile 87 38.7
Mexico 88 38.6
Algeria 90 38.4
Pakistan 93 37.4
Philippines 99 35.7
Brazil 102 34.6
The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index
15