Published: 16/09/2020

Sweden, Denmark and Norway proved to be the world’s most developed economies in the Responsible Development Index ranking, prepared by the Polish Economic Institute for the second time.

In the Responsible Development Index ranking, Poland’s position was the strongest in terms of current well-being (pillar I of the RDI) – 27^th among the 159 countries under analysis – due to relatively low income inequality. The world’s leaders in the factor in question included Hong Kong, the United States and Norway. Poland ranked low in the top forty in terms of creating future well-being (pillar II) and non-wage factors (pillar III). Its position was determined by relatively low research and development expenditure, representing 1.03 per cent of Poland’s GDP (the 35^th score worldwide). The global leaders in pillar II, i.e. creating future well-being, were Israel, Sweden and South Korea, whereas the best performers in pillar III, i.e. non-wage factors, included Sweden, Norway, Australia and New Zealand.

As regards detailed indicators incorporated into the Responsible Development Index, Poland ranked the highest in the measure of security. In 2018, the number of intentional homicides was 0.77 per 100,000 inhabitants, the 23^rd score in the world. It is worth remembering that in the early 1990s, the respective number was about triple the current figure. In our region, we performed better than Slovakia and Hungary (ranked 40^th and 71^st respectively) but behind the Czech Republic (15^th place).

Climate change must not be ignored

One of the most important postulates of the RDI is to incorporate global climate responsibility into measures of a country’s development. Counteracting climate change may be the world’s most important challenge of the 21^st century. Scientific research has demonstrated that global warming of 1.5°C or 2°C will intensify droughts and floods and their adverse effects on both ecosystems and social systems. Therefore, we found it necessary to incorporate greenhouse gas emission control as a component of assessments of country development into the RDI ranking.

‘The main idea behind our creating the RDI is that socio-economic development cannot be measured exclusively by the output of goods and services. GDP excludes certain vital aspects affecting the assessment of societies’ well-being and significantly overstates the development levels of tax havens and countries rich in natural resources’, explains Jakub Sawulski, the head of the macroeconomics team of the Polish Economic Institute.

Macao, Singapore and Ireland led the way in pillar IV of the Responsible Development Index, related to climate responsibility. Poland performed the worst in the pillar in question. As regards the current level of CO₂ emissions per unit of GDP, Poland ranked 126^th, among the countries having the most detrimental influence on global climate. Optimistically, however, due to an impressive scale of emission reduction by 52 per cent in 1998–2018, Poland ranked 18^th worldwide in the category concerned. The situation of the Czech Republic, the USA, Canada and Australia was similar to that of Poland, but the Anglo-Saxon countries achieved less significant emission reductions.

The largest CO₂ emitters per unit of GDP primarily included relatively less developed economies and Eastern European countries (Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Estonia).

What are the best countries to live in?

The Scandinavian countries lead the way in responsible development, being characterised not only by relatively high average wealth but also by low income inequalities and substantial investments in the future. Additionally, they make efforts to improve global climate, as reflected by their low CO₂ emissions and a large scale of emission reduction in the last 20 years. The top ten countries also included Israel, Austria and the United States. But balancing the economic, social and environmental dimensions of development appears to be difficult for the USA, which may have indirectly led to social unrest and the protests in the country in question.

The first edition of the Responsible Development Index, published in 2019, was composed of three pillars comprising eight indicators. In this year’s version of the RDI, we added a fourth pillar, related to climate responsibility.