A global index measuring prosperity or well-being in 167 countries revealed that Latin America and the Caribbean are the only region where economies have deteriorated over the past 10 years. In particular, Argentina finished seventh in the regional rankings, led by Chile and Uruguay.
In the general ranking, however, with all the countries included in the ranking, the country occupies the position 58. In other words, it’s dropped one spot since 2011, according to the Prosperity Index, which is compiled annually by the Legatum Institute, a sort of “think tank” funded by a London-based private investment fund.
The ranking has been prepared for 16 years and analyzes numerous variables such as the investment environment, the conditions for undertaking, the infrastructure, living conditions and medical care by the way, in different countries.
In this year’s results, Argentina performed stronger in social capital and personal freedom, but weaker in business conditions and economic quality. The biggest improvement from a decade ago has been in governance, according to this ranking.
What happened in the world, According to this index, it is that “Global prosperity has stagnated for the third consecutive year” due to the weakening of institutions and economies, greatly affected by the Russian-Ukrainian war.
However, in the world rankings, the top 10 countries leading the way to be considered the most prosperous were: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Iceland, Germany, New Zealand.
The reality of Latin America and the Caribbean are on another track: seven out of 25 countries have seen their prosperity decline and the biggest falls were those of Brazil, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
The regional ranking is led by Chile, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica as the countries with the greatest progress. And behind Argentina are Peru, Brazil and the Dominican Republic. While Venezuela and Haiti remain in the last positions from the list.
“Governments in the region are becoming increasingly authoritarian, leading to the deterioration of personal freedom and worsening governance, making them less effective and more corrupt. There is also a deterioration in economic quality, with rising public debt, low growth and rising unemployment,” the Legatum report underlines.
Analyzing specifically the variable or “pillar” of Economic Quality, the greatest deterioration in the region was noted in Venezuela, Suriname and Bolivia.
Another of the characteristics that the region has experienced, according to this study, is that it has seen an increase in public debt, as well as low economic growth and rising unemployment. For example: youth unemployment rose from 13.9% to 21.7%; public debt decreased from 44.8% to 79.5% and labor productivity (yearly) decreased by 1,000 USD in 10 years.
As a counterpart, in the region there have been improvements in areas that are easy to fix with technology and investment. Thus, Infrastructure and Market Access were the segments that improved the most in countries such as Honduras, Panama and Paraguay.
Among other findings on the overall behavior of countries, the report points out that “although the least prosperous countries of the world are improving, not catching up with the rest of the world. For example: in six of the 12 “pillars” of the Prosperity Index, the bottom 40 countries have deteriorated, while, on average, the rest of the world has improved. While the group did see improvements in some areas, progress wasn’t fast enough to catch up with the rest.
NS
Source: Clarin
