Prosperity. What is it? How do we achieve it? Are we prosperous?
Most people, faced with these questions, would reply that in general, Canadians are indeed prosperous. While there are certainly examples of low prosperity in some areas and for some groups of Canadians, the overall measure is that we are prosperous - 7th most prosperous county in the world, actually.
Each year, the England-based Legatum Institute publishes its Prosperity Index, a measure of the wealth and well-being most nations in the world. Their definition of prosperity is based partly on having high GDP, but also on the happiness, health and freedom enjoyed by a country's citizens.
The Legatum Index of Prosperity is based on data for 79 variables organized into nine sub-indexes. Those countries that perform well across each sub-index do best in the overall rankings. For 2009, Canada ranked 7th out of 104 countries, two positions ahead of the United States, but behind Australia. First and second positions went to Finland and Switzerland respectively.
The least prosperous countries were Sudan, Yemen and Zimbabwe, in that order.
There were certain categories where Canada did particularly well. We ranked 6th for Economic Fundamentals because of our productivity, growth and a healthy domestic market. A slight weaknesses in trade kept us from scoring higher.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation are strong in Canada, reflected by a ranking of 4th. This was because the business environment is highly conducive for business. As expected, the United States ranked first.
Canada ranks 6th for it democratic institutions that are stable, highly developed with guarantees of basic freedoms. For Personal Freedom, Canada comes in third! Canada is considered the most tolerant nation for immigrants and ethnic minorities; we also get the highest possible score for freedom of movement, religion and speech.
Canada ranks 9th in three sub-indexes: Social Capital, Governance, and Safety and Security where we report living in safety and free from fear of crime and assault. The US ranks 19th; Australia 14th.
Our two lowest rankings come in Education (16th) and Health (22nd). Small class sizes and excellent enrolment combined with above-average spending per pupil help our scores. For the Health sub-index, the researchers found that we are broadly satisfied with our personal health. However, despite having high numbers of doctors and nurses in the system, we rank 41st in number of hospital beds per capita.
Being rated in the top 10 on the Prosperity Index is something of which we can be proud, but despite the high rankings, there are always areas that need improvement. Fortunately, we have the human and other resources to spread prosperity across the country, leaving no one out. We just need to will to do it consistently.
Dr. Paul Martiquet is the Medical Health Officer for Rural Vancouver Coastal Health including Powell River, the Sunshine Coast, Sea-to-Sky, Bella Bella and Bella Coola.
