The 2012 Legatum Prosperity Index ^TM

REGIONAL ANALYSIS: THE AMERICAS

Canada leads the region placing sixth, while the US falls out of the top ten for the first time since 2009, placing 12th overall

The US has seen a decline in rankings in most sub-indices. The Economy and Entrepreneurship & Opportunity sub-indices have declined the most with the US falling seven places and six places respectively in each in the last year alone. This is due to a decline in citizens’ perception that working hard gets you ahead, a decline in high-tech and telecommunication exports, and an increase in levels of unemployment. Furthermore, US citizens’ overall satisfaction with living standards has declined since last year. Although the US ranks second overall in the Health sub-index, the country’s infant mortality rate is higher than that of Europe (6.5% compared to a European average of 3%).

Uruguay has replaced Costa Rica as the Latin American regional leader and is followed by Chile. Bolivia used to be the worst regional performer, but has now overtaken both Guatemala and Honduras. At the very bottom of the regional rankings, Haiti—a new entrant in the 2012 Index—places 138th.

When comparing the region with the rest of the world, we observe that most countries in the Latin American region fall below the global average in the Governance, Safety & Security, and Social Capital sub-indices (represented in the graphic below). Whereas, most countries in the region place above the global average for Personal Freedom.

 

Safety in Latin America

One of the global trends we have observed over the last four years is a decline in Safety & Security. One of the main drivers of this trend has been the Latin American region. Low levels of personal safety and high crime rates have long been a challenge in the region. Social inequality is often considered a major driver of crime and violence. For example, in the last five years, violence associated with drug cartels has killed approximately 50,000 people in Mexico alone.

The Safety & Security sub-index has two parts: national security and personal safety. For the purpose of this analysis, we have split the sub-index according to these two components. This reveals that Latin America is the worst performer in personal safety, globally, together with sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, Latin Americans feel the least safe when walking alone at night.

Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru report the highest levels of both property theft and assault, while Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and Paraguay report the lowest levels of people that feel safe walking alone at night. The outliers in the region are Panama and Jamaica who perform comparatively well on these indicators.

In Uruguay, citizens feel relatively safe walking alone at night and the percentage of the population who has suffered assault is low, but the percentage of the population who has had property stolen is much higher, placing the country among the bottom five performers on this variable.

Some countries in Latin America have taken firm action to curb crime and violence, including measures such as the banning of weapons in Honduras or proposals for drug legalisation in Uruguay and Colombia. However, more remains to be done to bring crime levels down.