This will be the biggest election year in history with more than half the world’s population – 4 billion people – heading to the polls in 2024. Yet, governments in the United States and throughout the world are largely failing to deliver for their people when it comes to improved living conditions, according to authors of the 2024 Social Progress Index.
The European Union isn’t immune despite data showing it collectively overtaking the U.S. in social progress for the first time. “This is largely due to the U.S. backslide as opposed to the EU making great strides,” noted the authors.
The world overall also saw declining social progress last year with progress slipping in 61 countries and stalling in 77 others, according to the authors. Only 32 countries improved. “Consequently, four out of five people in the world live in a country where social progress is stagnating or declining,” the authors write.
The U.S. backslide is reflected in data showing it continuing to spend more on healthcare than any other country in the world yet ranking only 40th for health outcomes among the 170 countries profiled. The U.S. ranking trails Greece, Barbados and Malaysia and is partly the result of an even worse (89th) score when it comes to ensuring Americans have equal access to care. Other categories where the U.S. received middling to poor grades were Political Rights/Voice (51st, behind Ghana, Suriname and South Africa, among others) and Safety (70th, worse than Kazakhstan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia).
The findings contributed to an overall U.S. ranking of 29th in this year’s Social Progress Index, well behind Canada (15th) and the United Kingdom (21st) which saw declining progress of their own. Unaffordable housing costs and persistent discrimination against minorities were other factors pulling the U.S. ranking down.
The Social Progress Imperative, a research nonprofit in Washington, D.C., has been commissioning this annual study for more than a decade to better understand how people around the world are living and who is being left behind. The findings are compiled from hundreds of datasets spanning education, nutrition, water and sanitation, and more. The aim is to provide transparent and actionable data to improve living conditions around the globe.
A key insight in the report is that progress on social issues doesn’t automatically flow from economic development. “While America is holding its own economically – 8th in the world on GDP per capita since 2011 and is still 8th today – it has slipped 10 places in the Social Progress Index rankings since 2011,” the authors wrote. “The lived experience of Americans is also worse today than it was 13 years ago, despite sustained economic growth.”
The five Nordic countries of Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden (in that order) all scored highest for social progress. The lowest ranking went to South Sudan, a landlocked East African country that has been beset by ethnic violence and civil war nearly continually since gaining independence in July 2011.
The authors see hope for a silver lining in the numerous elections taking place around the world this year. “As 4 out of 5 people in the world live in countries making no progress or going backwards in social progress, 2024 will prove a crucial year to hold elected officials to account,” they write.
The authors acknowledge ongoing limits to data collection posed by war and upheaval in places such as Israel, Gaza, and Ukraine. Governmental fudging of data can also never be ruled out. However, researchers strive to obtain their data from trusted global sources such as the UN and Gallup, all of which they scrutinize carefully and publish for full transparency, according to co-author Michael Green. “This means that we are not relying on governments’ unverified self-reporting,” he told The NonProfit Times.
The full report is available for purchase online. A 16-page executive summary is also available free of charge at https://www.socialprogress.org/2024-social-progress-index/
