France just makes world's most prosperous top 20

Out of 104 countries, Finland is ranked number one and is followed by Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The second half of the top ten is made up of Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the US and New Zealand. France trails other European heavy weights, with the UK in 12th, Germany 14th and Ireland 11th.

When composing the index this year, Legatum worked on more than monetary wealth alone, also considering factors like health, freedom, education, security and political governance. This method tentatively falls in line with recent recommendations made by a commission set up by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The sole aim of the commission being to demonstrate that gross domestic product (GDP) is not, by itself, a sufficient way to gage a country’s wellbeing.

Sarkozy argues that a broader approach, taking account of a population’s overall happiness, health and intellect, provides a much better yardstick for a nation’s economic performance. Of course, this method af analysis might allow France’s ranking in the rich list to improve whilst places like the US could potentially suffer.

It’s interesting then that in Legatum's index, France (along with the UK and Germany) not only trails the US in terms of economic output but also in terms of quality of life. In fairness, the report does confirm that the French are among the healthiest and best educated in the world. 87 per cent are happy with their health and 99 per cent of children enroll for school, with a higher than average number continuing to university. France also ranked highly in areas of entrepreneurship and innovation. It lost points, however, for safety and security, falling to 23rd behind the US (19th) and the UK (22nd), which is interesting when considering popular perceptions about international terrorism and gun crime.

However, it was its social capital that really let France down. Ranking 48th in this category, the index reveals that only 19 per cent of the French population believes others can be trusted. This is compared to 40 per cent of the population in Ireland, 48 per cent in Australia and one-third in the UK.

To see the full report and individual country profiles visit: http://www.prosperity.com

HM