Social Progress Index analyzing the quality of life and social wellbeing: Romania climbs one more position in the global ranking to the 43rd place and is no longer the last among EU countries

Romania climbs one more position, for the second consecutive year, and reaches the 43rd place in the 2022 Social Progress Index global ranking, which assesses the quality of life and social wellbeing of 169 countries and is conducted by the non-profit organization Social Progress Imperative with the support of Deloitte. This year, our country leaves the last place among the EU member states and is now second to last, overpassing Bulgaria, which ranks 44th. Romania registers a score of 76.89 points out of 100, slightly lower than last year, based on which it also climbs in the ranking’s second tier (after being placed in the third-tier countries), after Barbados, Argentina and Hungary.

The Social Progress Index (SPI) measures the quality of life and social wellbeing of citizens from 169 countries, based on the analysis of three main dimensions. The methodology consists of assigning a score for basic human needs category items - nutrition and basic medical care, water and sanitation, shelter and personal safety -, for wellbeing category items - access to basic knowledge, access to information and communications, health and wellness, environmental quality - and for opportunities category - 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.

“Amid a legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges from climate change, economic and political turbulence, the world showed signs of improvement in terms of social progress, even though by only 0.37 points compared to last year but the study draws the attention to a possible regression next year for the first time. Romania’s progress is also quite slow and I believe we could accelerate by leveraging strengths such as geography and natural resources, competitive labor force, technical skills and data infrastructure, growth-oriented taxation and abundant EU financing, provided we enhance investments in education, health, physical infrastructure and research and development,” said Alexandru Reff, Country Managing Partner, Deloitte Romania and Moldova.

In all the three analyzed categories, Romania registers a slight progress in the global ranking for basic human needs (40th place) compared to last year’s index, climbing one position, and a slight regression, descending one position, in terms of opportunities (46th place) and wellbeing (51st place). Analyzing the values assigned for each of the coordinates falling into these three categories, among our country’s best scores the 2022 Social Progress Index mentions nutrition and basic medical care and shelter (34th place both), followed by personal safety (35th place), access to information and communications (36th place) and advanced education (44th place). On the other hand, the coordinates recording the lower scores are health and wellness (81st place), water and sanitation (70th place), and access to basic knowledge (65th place).

Norway continues to rank first in the world, with a score of 90.74

• In 2022, Norway, Denmark and Finland occupy the first places in the ranking, while Chad, Central African Republic and South Sudan are on the last positions.
• All EU member states are in the first two tiers, with Denmark (2), Finland (3), and Sweden (6) among the first countries in the ranking, with a good quality of life.
• Among the Central and Eastern Europe countries, the best place is occupied by Estonia (18), followed by the Czech Republic (23), Slovenia (27), Lithuania (29), Latvia (32), Croatia (34), Slovakia (35), Poland (39), Hungary (42), Romania (43) and Bulgaria (44).

Overview in index changes between 2011 and 2022

The global average on social progress has improved by 5.40 points since 2011, reaching 65.24 out of 100 in 2022, although the gains are not evenly distributed across the components analyzed.

• Since 2011, 159 countries (94% of those measured) have improved by one or more points, out of which 79 countries (47%) have improved by five or more points.
• In the last 11 years, the world score has improved on ten components: access to information and communications, shelter, water and sanitation, access to advanced education, health and wellness, nutrition and basic medical care, access to basic knowledge, environmental quality, personal safety and personal freedom and choice.
• On the other hand, the world is declining on personal rights and stagnating on inclusiveness.

The global results of the 2022 Social Progress Index are available here and the detailed results for Romania can be seen here.

Deloitte provides industry-leading audit and assurance, tax and legal, consulting, financial advisory, and risk advisory services to nearly 90% of the Fortune Global 500® and thousands of private companies. The firm’s professionals deliver measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in capital markets, enable clients to transform and thrive, and lead the way toward a stronger economy, a more equitable society and a sustainable world. Building on its 175-plus year history, Deloitte spans more than 150 countries and territories. Its objective is to make an impact that matters through its 415,000 people worldwide.

Deloitte Romania is one of the leading professional services organizations in the country providing, in cooperation with Reff & Associates | Deloitte Legal, services in audit, tax, legal, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, business processes as well as technology services and other related services, through over 3,000 professionals.