Azerbaijan Takes 79th Place in Rating of Well-being

Azerbaijan took the 79^th place among 142 countries in the ranking of the welfare of the world (2014 Prosperity Index) for 2014, prepared by the British think tank Legatum Institute (a division of the international investment group Legatum).

It is almost an average overall, but not favorable in terms of economic and human development among post-Soviet countries, which are located in the following order: Estonia - 32, Lithuania - 42, Latvia - 44, Belarus - 53, Kazakhstan - 55, Uzbekistan - 57, Ukraine - 63, Russia - 68, Kyrgyzstan - 74, Georgia - 80, Moldva - 89, Tajikistan - 94, Armenia - 95. Turkmenistan was not included in the list due to lack of data. But yet the country has improved performance compared with the year 2013 by 2 points (81^st place), and in comparison with 2012 by 13 points (94^th place).

The index of Legatum Institute which covers 96% of the world population and 99% of global GDP is compiled on the basis of 79 various indicators, united in eight categories that reflect different aspects of social life and social welfare settings: economy, education, health, personal freedom, security, business opportunities, management, and social capital.

The rating authors note serious problems in the field of public and corporate governance (105^th place) and personal freedom (102) in Azerbaijan although on both indexes there have been improvements over the past two years marked improvements. The best performance is in the economy (65^th place) and business opportunities (67^th place). In terms of education the country has taken the 83^rd place, health - 89, security - 75, and social capital – 77.

The first place is occupied by Norway. It is followed by Switzerland, New Zealand, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, Finland, the Netherlands, and the USA. -0-