Fifth Is Pretty Good

I never know what to make of the various international indexes (indices?) that do the rounds. You know, the ones that rank nations by prosperity, freedom or stability.

But New Zealand always seems to do well in most of them. Which is a nice reminder that life here for most people is pretty sweet.

Today, Stuff reports that we are ranked number five on Britain's Legatum Institute Prosperity Index (and no, I haven't heard of these people either).

Its Prosperity Index ranks 110 nations, and includes both material wealth and quality of life. 

Norway headed the index, followed by Denmark, Finland, Australia and New Zealand.

The indices said New Zealand rated only 19th in the health rankings and 17th in economic.

It was first in education and third in ranks of personal freedom and social capital. It was fourth in governance and seventh in safety and security. It was 14th in entrepreneurship and opportunity.

New Zealand would have been higher than Australia had it not been for Australia's much stronger economy.

On the overall scale, the US was 10th, Britain 13th, Japan 18th , China 58th and India 88th.

At the other end of the scale, Zimbabwe came in at the bottom. Pakistan was second to last and the Central African Republic third to last.

This is all pretty predictable stuff. We have a world-class education system that is the envy of the rest of the world, and despite the choking red-tape, regulation and political correctness that the right assures us we are overwhelmed by, we rank highly for personal freedoms.

That doesn't mean we'll all just shut up our whinging any time soon, though (what would I do with my time if I couldn't have a good whine on this blog?). We may be sitting pretty as a nation compared to most others, but we can still do much more to tackle poverty.

Not everyone in Aotearoa is happy and content, and some have dared to suggest that the gap between rich and poor is ever widening. I know, what a crazy idea. How could cutting taxes for those in higher tax brackets, increasing GST and targetting beneficiaries possibly benefit the wealthy? No wonder the right are so dismissive of the idea.

Nor are we performing well economically. If we do nothing to transform our economy, and continue to rely on primary production to provide the bulk of our nation's export income, we will likely slide slowly down the rankings as our prosperity declines.

That is why I for one will continue to whinge for a while longer.