South Africa Tops Prosperity Rankings in Africa, Ghana ranked 6th

Zimbabwe and Sudan Rank Bottom in the World, Finds the Legatum Prosperity Index

Strong Communities, Personal Freedom and Democratic Institutions are the Recipe for Success in South Africa and Botswana; Poor Governance, Dire Health Conditions and Low Levels of Internal Security Drag Down the Rest. Both Botswana and Ghana are in the top third globally for levels of personal freedom.

The third edition of the Legatum Prosperity Index, published on Wednesday, ranks 104 countries (covering 90% of the world’s population), based on a definition of prosperity that combines economic growth together with measures of happiness and quality of life. Thanks to strong communities and democratic institutions, South Africa is the highest ranked sub-Saharan African nation, placed 51st, closely followed by Botswana at 56th. The majority of African countries rank in the bottom 15 with the Central African Republic, Sudan and Zimbabwe ranked dead last at 101st, 103rd, and 104th respectively.

“The Legatum Prosperity Index is the world’s only global assessment of wealth and wellbeing,” said Dr. William Inboden, Senior Vice President of the Legatum Institute. “The lowest ranking African countries show a clear link between a lack of effective government structures, high levels of internal conflict, and a lack of personal freedom, all of which contribute towards low levels of prosperity,” he continued. “However, for African countries pursuing greater prosperity, there are clear and positive signals in success stories such as South Africa and Botswana which demonstrated considerable economic growth over the last few years as well as improved governmental structure, and the promotion of civil liberties – the building blocks for prosperity.” concluded Dr. Inboden.

The low rankings of Sub-Saharan African countries such as Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe can be linked to a combination of poor governance, dire health conditions and low levels of internal security. In Botswana, improved governmental structure and the promotion of civil liberties are key to the countries good ranking, with 84% of citizens confident in the fairness of the judicial system, and 91% believing that the country’s political elections are honest. However, the very low health rank, attributed to the deep impact of the AIDS epidemic on the country, pulls it down.

Zimbabwe ranked inside the bottom three in five separate areas: Economic Fundamentals, Health, Safety and Security, Governance, and Personal Freedom. Mali and Nigeria rank within the top 16 countries globally for social capital. In fact, most Sub-Saharan African countries rank inside the top third globally in this area thanks to the high degree of religiosity in Africa, where African countries take six of the top 10 places.

All but two Sub-Saharan African countries rank within the bottom 25% of the rankings for entrepreneurship and innovation.
Mozambique ranks lowest globally for education. The Central African Republic ranks lowest globally for both entrepreneurship and innovation and health. Zimbabwe ranks lowest globally for economic fundamentals and governance. Mali is the most safe and secure Sub-Saharan African country ranking 43rd in this area while Sudan is the least secure Sub-Saharan African country ranking 103rd globally. Six of the 11 lowest ranking countries for safety and
security are Sub-Saharan African.

The Index identified nine key factors that drive economic growth and personal wellbeing, which are foundations of prosperity. Each of these nine factors is represented in a sub-index and a country’s final Prosperity Index ranking is generated by averaging its scores across all nine sub-indexes, equally weighted.