What if countries competed with each other to become the most socially innovative in the world?

 

The Social Progress Imperative, is a nonprofit in the United States created in 2012. They are the autors of the Social Progress Index launched in April 2013.

The Social Progress Index offers a measure of the multiple dimensions of social progress, benchmarking success, and catalyzing greater human wellbeing.

The methodology for the Social Progress Index was developed and refined under the leadership of Social Progress’s Advisory Board Chair, Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School, with guidance from Advisory Board members Matthew Bishop, Judith Rodin of the Rockefeller Foundation, Hernando de Soto of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, and Scott Stern of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The conceptual underpinnings draw heavily on the work done by Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen and Jean-Paul Fitoussi for France’s Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress.

The Three dimensions of the social progress index

• Basic human needs: Does a country provide for its people’s most essential needs?
• Foundations of wellbeing: Are the building blocks in place for individuals and communities to enhance and sustain wellbeing?
• Opportunity: Iss there opportunity for all individuals to reach their full potential?

Some Findings

• Social progress is distinct from economic development, though correlated with it.Some countries with low GDP per capita are able to achieve surprising levels of social progress, while some relatively prosperous nations register levels of social progress lower than less wealthy countries. Explicitly distinguishing social progress from economic development allows us to gain deeper insight into each one.
• Some aspects of social progress are more closely related to the level of economic development than others.
• There is no single measure that captures all aspects of social progress.Each dimension is distinct from the others, and each component within each dimension is also distinct.
• Countries have relative strengths and weaknesses in social progress, both across dimensions and across components within dimensions. These strengths and weaknesses set the social progress agenda for each country.

Watch the video: Video
Social Progress Index 2014: Acces to 2014 data
Where are we?: SPAIN
photo: (*) Photosolde 
__________________________________________________________________________