Estonia has scored the highest in emerging Europe and has been ranked 21st globally in the thirteenth edition of the Prosperity Index published by the London-based Legatum Institute Foundation.
Slovenia was ranked second in the region and 27st globally while it got the 4th place globally in terms of the prosperity of the natural environment. The Czech Republic came as the third in the region with the 28th place in the global ranking.
The three are followed by Slovakia (ranked 32nd globally), Lithuania (ranked 33rd globally), Latvia (35th) and Poland (36th). Croatia (45th), Hungary (46th) and Romania (47th) also made it to the region’s top ten.
Out of the 167 countries examined in the survey, Bulgaria was ranked 49th, followed by Montenegro (50th), Serbia (52nd), Georgia (53th), North Macedonia (54th), Armenia (61st), Albania (65th), Bosnia and Herzegovina (70th).
The global survey put Belarus at the 73rd place while the country was ranked the lowest in emerging Europe in terms of governance and social capital.
Moldova was ranked 81st, followed by Azerbaijan (92nd globally), with the latter scoring the lowest in the region’s personal freedom record. At the bottom of the regional ranking is Ukraine, ranked 96th.
“81 per cent of countries are experiencing higher levels of prosperity than they did a decade ago, with all regions contributing to the improvement in global prosperity,” Legatum Foundation said in a statement, adding that “economies have become more open over the past decade, although economic quality has not improved to the same extent as the other economic pillars.”
The Prosperity Index examines political, social, economic and environmental prosperity in eleven key areas: safety and security, personal freedom, governance, social capital, investment environment, enterprise conditions, market access and infrastructure, economic quality, living conditions, health, education and the natural environment.
