Romania now ranks 43rd in the 2022 edition of the Social Progress Index compiled by non-profit organization Social Progress Imperative with the support of Deloitte, meaning that Romania is no longer last among EU member states, but is now ahead of Bulgaria (44th).
The Social Progress Index (SPI) measures the quality of life and social wellbeing of citizens from 169 countries along three main dimensions: basic human needs (nutrition and basic medical care, water and sanitation, shelter and personal safety), wellbeing (access to basic knowledge, access to information and communications, health and wellness, environmental quality), and opportunities (personal rights, personal freedom and choice, inclusiveness, access to advanced education). Based on the score, the countries in the ranking are grouped into six categories arranged in descending order.
Romania scored 76.89 points out of 100 in the 2022 index, slightly lower than last year. This places it in the ranking’s second tier (up from the third-tier category previously) after Barbados, Argentina, and Hungary, reports Romania Insider.
Looking at the three analyzed categories, Romania registered a slight progress in the global ranking for basic human needs (40th place), climbing one position from last year’s index, and a slight regression, losing one position, in terms of opportunities (46th place) and wellbeing (51st place).
Romania obtained the best scores on nutrition and basic medical care and shelter (34th place both), followed by personal safety (35th), access to information and communications (36th), and advanced education (44th). On the other hand, it got lower scores on health and wellness (81st place), water and sanitation (70th), and access to basic knowledge (65th).
In 2022, Norway, Denmark and Finland occupy the first positions in the ranking, while Chad, the Central African Republic and South Sudan are at the opposite end. All EU member states are in the first two tiers, with Denmark (2nd), Finland (3rd), and Sweden (6th) among the first countries in the ranking, with a good quality of life.
Among Central and Eastern Europe countries, the first place is occupied by Estonia (18th), followed by the Czech Republic (23rd), Slovenia (27th), Lithuania (29th), Latvia (32nd), Croatia (34th), Slovakia (35th), Poland (39th), Hungary (42nd), Romania (43rd) and Bulgaria (44th).
