The nations that contribute most to the good of humanity

01 Jan 2015
Signal Noise


This graph is one way to determine which nations contribute most to the good of the human race. Simon Anholt, an independent government-policy adviser, compiled a ranking called the Good Country Index. "Ireland came out on top," says Anholt. "It gets very few low scores overall: it didn't contribute any troops to Afghanistan in 2010, when the index was calculated, and therefore, any deaths. It gives a lot to charity, has low population growth and generates almost no refugees." Other countries in the top ten included New Zealand, Finland and the UK. "Many international surveys out there measure the performance of countries, but do so in isolation from each other," says Anholt. "In a connected world where most problems are global problems, it makes more sense to look at the external impact of countries and measure their impact on the rest of humanity."

Anholt spent two years selecting 35 reliable data sets compiled by the United Nations and other international agencies that measure the external impact of countries across seven categories such as Science and Technology, World Order, Planet and Climate, Health and Wellbeing, and Prosperity and Equality. He then divided the data with each country's GDP, so richer ones wouldn't come out on top by default. "The next phase is not about measurement, but about action," he says. "The Index should help ordinary citizens around the world to persuade their governments to think more internationally, and stop being selfish. That's the aim of the project."