JEDDAH — Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries span the Legatum Prosperity Index rankings. The United Arab Emirates, for example, ranks in the top 30 overall, while Iraq and Afghanistan—two new countries in the Index this year —rank within the bottom 15 countries in the Index. The best performers are Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Among the worst performers are Afghanistan, Syria, and Iran, where more than 40 percent of the population report that they cannot rely on relatives and friends. In MENA, Tunisia was hardest hit in the social capital stakes, falling to 122nd out of 142 countries, with Syria also dropping 30 places to 131st since 2010. However, the entrepreneurship and opportunity sub-sector rose across the region as a result of falling business start-up costs and greater connectivity via mobile phones, internet connection and security. Most notably, Saudi Arabia climbed from 54th to 46th since last year. Jeffrey Gedmin, president and CEO of the Legatum Institute, said: “The Legatum Prosperity Index allows us to paint a comprehensive picture of what makes a country truly successful, encompassing traditional measures of material wealth, as well as capturing citizens' sense of wellbeing – from how safe they feel, to their perceived personal freedom. GDP alone can never offer a complete view of prosperity. “In the Middle East and North Africa, we are beginning to feel the impact of the Arab Spring, as social cohesion and the number of citizens who believe they can rely on friends and family for help has fallen” Globally, Norway, Denmark and Sweden topped the overall index and Finland was ranked seventh. A new generation of Asian “Tiger Cub” countries has also emerged, with Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia all scaling the rankings. In Tunisia, the percentage of the population that believe they can rely on friends and family for help has dropped from 88 percent in 2010 to 71 percent in the 2012 Index. During the same period, Yemen declined from 76 percent to 66 percent, well below the global average. Despite differences across the region, most countries have improved their performance in the Entrepreneurship & Opportunity (E&O) sub-index over the last three years. This parallels a global improvement in the E&O sub-index in recent years, which has been caused, in part, by increasing levels of communications technology such as mobile banking. This has allowed more aspiring entrepreneurs to launch their own businesses. The MENA region has seen the second largest improvement. Alongside greater connectivity, improvements in the E&O sub-index are partly due to a decrease in business start-up costs. Start-up costs have decreased throughout the region with the exceptions of Algeria, and Yemen, where they remain mostly unchanged. A significant improvement has been experienced by Egypt where business start-up costs decreased from almost 16 percent of GNI per capita in 2009 to 6 percent in 2012. In Europe, overall prosperity has increased, with the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany each climbing the rankings and included in the top 15. However, more than two thirds (24 out of 33) of European countries have seen a decline in their Economy score since 2009 – undoubtedly as a result of ongoing economic difficulty in the region. Another common regional trend is the sharp decline in the Social Capital sub-index experienced by most countries since 2010. Social Capital is important to prosperity because it measures the level of social cohesion, reciprocity, and trust in a society. – SG
