A flattery of statistics

8 April 2014

International surveys often provide reassurance in the face of naysayers who criticise the New Zealand way of doing things. Many posts on this blog relate to surveys conducted by international NGO s which with few exceptions rate New Zealand well on indicators connected with social equity, integrity and good government. But the jingoism of yesterday’s Kiwiblog trumped all of that. It has a compilation of surveys which rate New Zealand well. Of course there are many other surveys that do not include New Zealand in their measurements. The question then is whether New Zealand should be assessed as a mirror of Australia or of the leading Scandinavian countries, among which it usually compares well?. The Kiwiblog post lists the following schedule of surveys, which compare New Zealand with the World’s other 200 or so countries. The surveys covered have more relevance to New Zealand than those that form part of the Global Observatory’s catalogue of indices. Many also contribute data to the Worldwide Governance Indicator reports. However the list does not include some other interesting evaluations like the Sustainable Development survey reports in which New Zealand also rates well.

New Zealand rates well on the following indices, as listed on Kiwiblog.