Thailand Ranked #58 of World’s Best 100 Countries
Earlier in the week the online version of Newsweek released their list of the World’s Best 100 countries and Thailand ranked #58 overall on this list. The ranking was based on data from 2009 and is based on the following five criteria (ranking within criteria shown in parenthesis):
Education (#57) – Determined using combined universal score on TIMSS and/ or PISA tests or by doing a regression of literacy rate (CIA World Factbook) and average years of schooling against the universal score for those countries that don’t administer these tests. The score is meant to measure educational achievement and differentiate between developing countries.
Health (#66) – Based on healthy life expectancy and meant to capture the efficiency of the health care system. It takes into account years that are lived in less than full health due to disease or injury.
Quality of Life (#55) – Measured by five different criteria. Inequality as measured by gender, extreme poverty defined as the percent of the population living on less than $2 a day, standard of living which is determined by private consumption, physical environment determined by homicides per 100,000 population as well as air and water pollution levels and economic security which is measured through the countries unemployment rate.
Economic Dynamism (#39) – Also measured by five different criteria. Productive growth which is the growth in GDP expressed as an incremental US$ growth per person over the past 10 years and extrapolated forward for the next 10 years, diversification which measures the percentage of GDP that comes from services and manufacturing, innovation which measures the amount of capital invested in R&D throughout the manufacturing, university and government as well as the availability of scientists and intellectual property, business vitality which measures the ease of doing business in each country including the time required to start a new business and the number of bankruptcy filings and finally stock market capitalization which measures the equity market capitalization as a percentage of GDP.
Political Environment (#74) – Measured by three different criteria. Freedom house rating which is based on a variety of things and is meant to assess the perceived level of democratic freedom in a country, global peace index’s political participation rating which measures voter turnout and citizens participation in the political process and political risk service’s political stability rating which is a measure of the risk to individuals, businesses and the government due to political decisions and actions.
As you can see this survey and determination is based solely on the conditions for the countries citizens, not tourists and expats. Even so, I think it sheds some light on what life in Thailand is like for those of us visiting or living there permanently, even though we are simply guests.
Even though Thailand ranked #58 overall I found that digging a bit deeper into the numbers painted a slightly different picture. For example, when sorting for just the low income countries (defined as Gross National income per capita under $3946) we find Thailand ranked #4 out of 38 countries. Ukraine, Jordan and Albania are the top three, however you find many Asian countries including China and India ranking lower than Thailand.
When looking at the ASEAN countries Thailand ranks 3rd, only Singapore and Malaysia (both former British colonies) rank higher than Thailand. When including all of East Asia and the Pacific Rim Thailand drops to #7 out of 11, but all of the countries above them are considered to be “developed” nations (Australia, New Zealand, Japan, S. Korea, Singapore and Malaysia). What this indicates to me is that Thailand is likely much closer to developed nation status than many other countries in SE Asia. Of course only time will tell and considering the current political climate in Thailand this could be delayed or derailed for some time, but overall it gives me hope for better conditions for the majority of Thai people in the near future.
While no list like this can be perfect I think it is a fairly good representation of the quality of life around the world. Even more interesting to me will be follow up surveys, assuming Newsweek chooses to repeat this on a yearly basis. I am very curious to see how the rankings change for each country as the world economy changes. After looking at the rankings how do you feel Thailand should stack up against other countries? What about future rankings, do you think Thailand is gaining in each area or do you think they are falling behind?
Popularity: 4% [?]
Check out these similar posts:
Yes, yes, seen these surveys all before, it’s too broad, the above criteria and statistics represent a medium, and include the poor and the super rich, which us the reader are neither a part of. If you’re retired or haven’t got kids, the education factor is less important, the dynamic between developed and developing countries is too large to compare in any case. It depends on the individual’s priorities, Thailand ranks much higher than 58th according to my idea of ‘best countries’.
To hell with surveys, statistics, Western value judgements, the American media… I’m stuck back in Europe for a couple of years in France, apparently no. 16 in the list, and I can’t think of a single valid reason for staying here one second longer than I have to!
Hi Pete,
Gotta say I’m in complete agreement with you. We are currently in the U.S. which is #11 on the list and would both give anything to be back in Thailand without a second thought.
Sorry about your being stuck in France for so long, hope it turns out to go quicker than you think it will.
Newsweek obviously didn’t take the level of corruption in Thailand into consideration.
Sorry to blow the bubble.
The level of corruption didn’t figure into the ratings except possibly as an impact on Economic Dynamism and Business Vitality. Honestly I think corruption is a function of the human condition and can be found in every country of the world. Some of us just do a better job hiding it so it isn’t as apparent.