Three decades of social progress, measured

The Social Progress Index scores what life is actually like in each country — health, safety, education, rights, opportunity — independently of GDP. Explore how 180 countries have moved between 1990 and 2023.

World average SPI
Highest score
Fastest riser since 1990

World map

SPI score by country · red = worst, blue = best · click a country to open its profile

How scores are distributed

Number of countries in each SPI band, selected year vs 1990

Biggest movers

Largest change in SPI, 1990 → selected year

Dimensions worldwide

World average of each dimension over time — where progress came from

Progress is not destiny

Basic Human Needs vs Opportunity, selected year · bubble = country

Explore every metric

Map, rank, compare, and correlate all 68 metrics — the overall SPI, its 3 dimensions, 12 components, and 52 underlying indicators. Red is always worst, blue is always best.

World map

Compare countries on this metric

Full time series for up to 7 countries, plus the world median

Best and worst

Distribution

How countries are spread on this metric — selected year vs first year

Relationship explorer

Plot any metric against any other for the selected year — defaults to GDP per capita vs SPI, the index's signature comparison · bubble color = SPI · click a bubble to open the country

Full data table

# Country Region Value Percentile Δ since first year

Country profiles

The full trajectory of one country: overall score, the three dimensions, all twelve components, and its position among peers over time.

Basic Human Needs
Foundations of Wellbeing
Opportunity
Compare this country

Dimensions over time

Component scores

All 12 components in the selected year · dark markers show the world median

Rank over time

Global SPI rank (lower is better)

Where the change came from

Change in each component, first available year → selected year

Compare trajectories

Up to seven countries at every level of the index — any of 68 metrics, component radar profiles, a percentile heatmap of all 52 indicators, and a gap analysis showing exactly where each country leads or lags.

Load a group — geographic regions, or blocs (dashed): G7, G20, OECD, BRICS, EU-27

Compare on any metric

Choose anything from the overall SPI down to a single indicator

Basic Human Needs

Foundations of Wellbeing

Opportunity

Component profile

Snapshot

CountryRankSPI BHNFoWOppΔ start

Social progress vs prosperity

Each country's path through GDP–SPI space over time · GDP per capita on a log scale · the SPI story is how far social progress sits above or below what income predicts

Gap analysis

All 52 indicators at a glance

Global rankings

Every country in every year — sortable by any column, filterable, exportable. Only officially ranked countries appear here (partial-data countries are shown on their profile pages). Ranks are the official SPI ranks from the dataset. Year-on-year movement (▲▼) is computed from score order; Δ is against each country's first available year.

# ± Country Region SPI Basic Human Needs Foundations of Wellbeing Opportunity Δ since start

About the index

The Social Progress Index measures the wellbeing of societies directly — using social and environmental outcome indicators only, never economic ones. It answers a question GDP cannot: is life actually getting better?

How it works

Structure of the index

Each country's score, from 0 to 100, aggregates three dimensions, each built from four components, each in turn constructed from multiple outcome indicators. Dimensions answer three questions: does a country provide for its people's most essential needs, are the building blocks in place for individuals to sustain wellbeing, and is there opportunity for every person to reach their full potential? Indicator data are drawn from international sources, standardized, aggregated by principal components within each component, and scaled against fixed best- and worst-case anchors so that scores are comparable across countries and over time.

Basic Human Needs

  • Nutrition & Basic Medical Care
  • Water & Sanitation
  • Shelter
  • Personal Safety

Foundations of Wellbeing

  • Access to Basic Knowledge
  • Access to Information & Communications
  • Health & Wellness
  • Environmental Quality

Opportunity

  • Personal Rights
  • Personal Freedom & Choice
  • Inclusiveness
  • Access to Advanced Education

Country classification

How countries qualify for a score and a rank

The Social Progress Index only assigns an overall score and an official rank to countries with sufficient data across all twelve components. The dataset classifies every country-year accordingly, and the site labels countries that are not fully ranked:

Ranked full data on all 12 components — officially scored and ranked
Partial data on 9–11 components — some dimension scores exist, but no overall SPI score or rank

Ranked countries appear on the map and in the rankings. Partial countries (for example, a country in its early years before full coverage) are kept in the data and shown on their profile pages with a Partial badge, so the record is complete without implying a rank the methodology does not support.

This time series

What the 1990–2023 series covers

This site presents annual SPI scores for up to 180 countries from 1990 through 2023, computed with a consistent methodology across the full period so that changes over time reflect real changes in outcomes rather than changes in measurement. Countries enter the series when sufficient indicator coverage exists, so early years contain fewer countries than recent ones. Scores shown here are from the Social Progress Imperative's research pipeline.

Reading the numbers

A few cautions

Scores are anchored 0–100, but no country sits at either extreme. Small year-to-year movements can reflect data revisions in underlying sources as well as genuine change; multi-year trends are more reliable than single-year jumps. Ranks depend on how many countries are scored in a given year, so comparing a country's score over time is safer than comparing its rank. For methodology details, see the Social Progress Imperative at socialprogress.org.