New Zealand came first in a global index published yesterday that ranks countries by social and environmental performance in a drive to make social progress a priority for politicians and businesses.
The Social Progress Index rates 132 countries on more than 50 indicators, including health, sanitation, shelter, personal safety, access to information, sustainability, tolerance and inclusion, and access to education.
The index asks questions such as whether a country can satisfy its people's basic needs and has the infrastructure and capacity to allow its citizens to improve their quality of life.
"The index shows that economic growth does not automatically lead to social progress," Michael Green, director of the Social Progress Imperative, a non-profit body that publishes the index, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"If we are to tackle problems such as poverty and inequality, measuring economic growth alone is not enough."
New Zealand received high scores for personal rights and freedom, internet access and school enrolment.
It was followed in the rankings by Switzerland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Denmark and Australia.
South Africa, is ranked 69th and trails Mauritius (34th) and Botswana (57th) in Africa.
Some of the world's biggest economies did not fare so well, with Germany in 12th place, the UK in 13th, Japan 14th, the US 16th and France 20th. All of them except Germany scored poorly on environmental sustainability.
The US ranked poorly on health - despite being a top spender on healthcare - and on access to basic knowledge.
The low rankings of China (90th) and India (102nd) showed that their rapid economic growth is not leading to better lives for their citizens, said Green.
"The index finds that all economic growth is not equal," he said.
Costa Rica and South Africa, for example, have similar GDPs, but Costa Rica achieves much greater social progress than South Africa thanks to progressive environmental and healthcare policies.
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