24 September 2012
Survey statistics provide some sort of guide to the nature of governance and social conditions – and a way of comparing national characteristics and the state of “good government”. The Economist “Pocket World of Figures 2013” collates national rankings on a range of social circumstances ‘‘… from boozing and banking, travel and TV habits, politics, population and Nobel Peace Prize winners..”
The part of the Economist promotion reported by New Zealand media is that New Zealand has slipped from being the country with the highest level of gifting to charity, to falling behind the United States and Australia.
A more substantial collation of statistics also released this month is the Global Observatory Catalogue of Indices. This lists 30 open-source measures ranging from human rights to conflict, from governance to gender, with the ranking of countries according to their score. This is the first packaging in this way – which will be a helpful source of references for this blog.
The 30 indices are organised in six categories:
1. Conflict, Fragility, and Instability
2. Environment
3. Freedoms and Rights
4. Gender
5. Governance
6. Socio-Economics
The indices covered by the catalogue are:
Failed State Index by The Fund for Peace
Global Peace Index by Institute for Economics and Peace
Peace and Conflict Instability Ledger by University of Maryland
Political Instability Index by the Economist Intelligence Unit
State Fragility Index by George Mason University
Country Indicators for Foreign Policy: Failed and Fragile States by Carleton University
Environmental Performance Index by Yale University Center for Environmental Law and Policy
Freedom in the World Index by Freedom House
Press Freedom Survey by Freedom House
Worldwide Press Freedom Index by Reporters without Borders
Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Database by David L. Cingranelli (Binghamton University, and David L. Richards, University of Memphis
Economic Freedom in the World Index by the Fraser Institute
Index of Economic Freedom by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal
Gender Inequality Index by the United Nations Development Programme
Global Gender Gap index by the World Economic Forum
Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International
Democracy Index by the Economist Intelligence Unit
The World Bank Governance Indicators
Bertelsmann Transformation Index (Status Index) by Bertelsmann Stiftung
Bertelsmann Transformation Index (Management Index) by Bertelsmann Stiftung
Gallup Global Wellbeing (thriving) Index by Gallup
Global Hunger Index by International Food Policy Research Institute, Concern Worldwide
Human Development Index (HDI) by The United Nations Development Programme
Multidimensional Povert y Index by The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative and UNDP Human Development Report Office
World Bank Ease of Doing Business Indicators by World Bank International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Global Competitiveness Index by World Economic Forum
Impunity Index on the Murder of Journalists by the Committee to Protect Journalists
Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA)/ International Development Association (IDA) Resource Allocation Index by the World Bank
In scrolling down the indices, New Zealand rates in the top five of many on which countries would wish to appear.
