A new study has ranked Sweden as the topmost country in the world ‘Goodness’ table, followed by Denmark and the Netherlands.
The UK got fourth position in the Goodness index, and Libya came last in the table.
Sweden outranked 162 other countries in the table to be announced as the ‘goodest’ country. The positive lifestyle contributions, including equality, prosperity, health and wellbeing contributed immensely to help Sweden get the first rank in the table.
The survey suggests that Sweden is working perfectly when it comes to serving the interests of its people, while avoiding negative impacts to environment as well as other nations.
The aim of the Good Country Index – created by Simon Anholt – is “to find ways of encouraging countries to collaborate and co-operate a lot more, and compete a bit less”. The list examines how a country contributes country towards ‘common good of humanity’. The list was prepared using 35 indicators, sourced from the World Bank, the United Nations, and several other international organizations.
“Most of our problems are rapidly and dangerously multiplying because of globalization,” Anholt said.
“This is the new law of human survival, and it’s a balance which is far more easily maintained than many people imagine. Working together makes for better policy than working alone.”
“A good country is one that successfully contributes to the good of humanity. Of course it must serve the interests of its own people, but never at the expense of other populations or their natural resources: this is the new law of human survival.”
“We need our governments to understand that they’re not just responsible for their own voters and taxpayers, but for every living thing on the planet,” he added.
According to Anholt, governments must cooperate more with each other.
“The UK, for example, isn’t just an island unconnected to the rest of Europe or to the rest of the world. Just like every other country on Earth, it is part of one system. If it fails, we all fail.”
In the list, the UK was placed above France and Germany, thanks to its global contribution in the field of science and technology, including production of international publications, Nobel prizes won by the British scientists, and the high number of journal exports. The country however fell behind Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands in the table. Britain was found to be performing poorly in the field of international security and peace, and came 64th out of 163 countries.
Anholt revealed that there were only very minute differences between the countries in the top 10.
The performance of smaller countries in the index, such as Ireland, Kenya, Iceland and Costa Rica, was more ‘volatile’ – according to Anholt – because many events in these countries had a bigger impact, and that’s why they experienced significant drops in ranking.
In latest rankings, Ireland was at 19th place in terms of its contribution to science and technology, 17th in the world order, 23rd in prosperity and equality, 22nd in the culture category, 17th in health and wellbeing, and 51st in international peace and security.
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