The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index 2019

Social Cohesion
Table of
Contents
Social Capital World Map
A certain level of social balance or social consensus is required to maintain a
stable environment in which economic activities can take place. The higher the
social capital of a country, the better the economy can flourish. The higher the
social consensus, the higher the motivation of individuals to contribute to the
wider good, i.e. the sustainable development of the nation – and the less likely
they are to fall off the track into illegal paths of wealth generation that eventually
hurt the legal economy. The indicators used to calculate the Social Capital score
of countries is composed of health and health care factors (availability and
affordability), the quantitative equality within societies (income, assets, and
gender equality), freedom indicators (political freedom, freedom from fear,
individual happiness), crime levels, and demographic indicators.
• The top 20 in the Social Capital sub-index is dominated by European
countries from the North (particularly Scandinavia) – only Japan (12),
Singapore (13) and Kyrgyzstan (19) break into the ranks
• The USA, due to comparable high crime rates, low availability of health
services, and rising inequality, is ranked 142, just below Guinea-Bissau and
above South Sudan.
• The UK is ranked 40, reflecting the deteriorating social fabric.
• China is ranked 34, India 90, Russia 127, and Brazil 148
• The highest ranked South American country are Argentina (55) and
Ecuador (69); the highest-ranking African country Burkina Faso (73).
Most African nations, particular within and south of the Sahel zone, are at the
bottom of this list, due to a combination of low availability of health care services
and child mortality, limited freedom of expression, and unstable human rights
situation
The Social Capital World Map. Dark areas indicate high, light areas low maturity of Social Capital
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