Lebanon has ranked 96th globally and 10th regionally in the Social Progress Index for the year 2024, according to figures published by the Social Progress Initiative, a non-profit organization. The tenth edition of the initiative’s Social Progress Index ranked 170 countries worldwide based on their results in social progress metrics, which average three indicators: the basic human needs index, the foundations of well-being index, and the opportunity index. Each of these indices is calculated based on four equally weighted factors, with scores ranging from zero to one hundred. For example, the basic human needs index includes factors like nutrition and basic medical care, water and sanitation, shelter, and personal safety. The foundations of well-being index covers aspects such as access to basic knowledge, information and communication, health, and environmental quality. The opportunity index addresses personal rights, personal freedom and choice, acceptance and inclusiveness, and the ability to benefit from higher education.
According to the report, the global average score in the Social Progress Index for 2024 was 63.44, achieving its best performance in the basic human needs index with a score of 77.04, followed by the foundations of well-being index (score: 61.52) and the opportunity index (score: 51.76). The report, which appeared in the newsletter prepared by the Economic Research Unit at Bank of Lebanon and the Lebanese, highlighted that the highest score among the 12 factors was in the shelter criterion (score: 80.34), followed by water and sanitation (score: 79.23) and nutrition and basic medical care (score: 77.04). The worst global average performance under the index was in the environmental quality criterion (score: 48.97) and advanced education access (score: 43.04). In terms of numbers, Denmark topped the global list in the Social Progress Index for 2024 with a score of 90.38, followed by Norway (score: 90.32), Finland (score: 89.96), Iceland (score: 89.57), and Sweden (score: 89.09). Regionally, Kuwait ranked first in the Middle East and North Africa (global rank: 48) in the Social Progress Index for 2024 with a score of 73.44, followed by the United Arab Emirates (global rank: 51; score: 72.92) and Qatar (global rank: 65; score: 69.29), among others.
Locally, Lebanon ranked 96th globally and 10th regionally in the Social Progress Index for 2024 with a score of 64.30. Specifically, Lebanon scored 81.91 in the basic human needs index (global ranking: 83), 61.77 in the foundations of well-being index (global ranking: 97), and 49.21 in the opportunity index (global ranking: 100). Lebanon's best performance among the 12 factors was in nutrition and basic medical care (score: 93.59), followed by shelter (score: 84.44) and access to basic knowledge (score: 80.35), while it had the worst performance in environmental quality (score: 50.03) and inclusiveness (score: 28.72).
