Regional Ranking:
Regional Analysis: Asia - Pacific Region
The Asia-Pacific region includes a diverse array of countries whose rankings are spread throughout the Prosperity Index. In contrast to the Americas, this region shows a generally better performance on the wellbeing side than on the income side (see p20).
Australia tops the region, placing third overall in the Index after two consecutive years of improvement. Next is New Zealand placing fourth, followed by the ‘Asian tigers’ (Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea) and Japan, all of which are in the top 30. Of these countries, South Korea has experienced the largest improvement, moving from 29th in 2009 to 24th in 2011.
Further down, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan rank in the bottom 20 on the Index, alongside some sub-Saharan African countries.
They have shown no sign of rapid rises through the rankings, with the exception of Cambodia, which moved from 101st in 2009 to 94th in 2011. This group is now joined by India, which over the same period has dramatically dropped 13 places, to 91st.
In the majority of Asia-Pacific countries, overall wellbeing scores are higher than income scores, as shown in the graph above. This gap stems mainly from these countries’ performance in the Economy, Education, and Social Capital sub-indices.
Most countries show higher wellbeing scores in the Economy sub-index, primarily because of above average levels of satisfaction with living standards, confidence in financial institutions, and perceived job availability.
On the Education sub-index, the majority of Southeast Asians express satisfaction with the education system and believe that their children have the opportunity to learn. This is despite a higher than average pupil-to-teacher ratio in primary schools, and relatively low rates of enrolment in secondary and tertiary education – all of which contribute to the income scores of the Education sub-index.
Finally, the wellbeing scores within the Social Capital sub-index are higher than the corresponding income scores in most countries, a finding that partly reflects above average rates of marriage in nearly every country across the region.