Nigeria Named The Least Prosperous Nation In The World For 2014

In spite of the new found status of Nigeria as the largest economy in Africa, the country has been ranked not only as one of the world’s least prosperous countries in 2014, but also one of Africa’s poorest nation beaten by smaller countries like Niger, Benin, Mali and Cameroon, an annual global prosperity survey released this week has said.

According to a report released by a UK based Legatum Institute, a research organization that documents annual prosperity indicators around the world, listed Nigeria as the 125th out of 142 countries surveyed.

Despite Nigeria’s acclaimed $510bn economy, the nation failed to make the list of Africa’s top 10 most prosperous countries, a league dominated hitherto by Botswana and South Africa. Other countries in that bracket according to the report listed from third and below, are Morocco, Namibia, Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, and Senegal.

Nigeria was said to have fell to 27 in Africa in 2014, nose-diving 22 places from its ranking in 2011, the report said. In between the top 10 countries and Nigeria are Benin, Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Mali, Niger, Cameroon, Egypt, Tanzania, Malawi, Djibouti, Mozambique, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo Republic, Zimbabwe, and Mauritania.

The Executive Director of Legatum Institute, Sain Hansen, said that: “The 2014 Prosperity Index provides a lens through which to view a comprehensive assessment of national success. The Index measures the broad set of indicators that tell us not only how nations perform economically but in vital areas of education, health, freedom, opportunity, social capital.”

Other indicators measured by the institute’s survey are, governance and safety and security. For each of the indices assessed, Nigeria performed woefully, highlighting how life in Nigeria is perhaps among the harshest in the world despite the country’s oil and mineral wealth.

Nigeria’s best ranking was in the economy group, where it was ranked 97th out of 142 countries in the survey. The report also said Nigeria ranked 114th, 130th, 123th, 132th, 137th, 106th, and 108th in entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, education, health, safety and security, personal freedom and social capital respectively.

The leading African country, Botswana, ranked 75th globally, and has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $15,147. The country is among the biggest proportional spender in the world as its government spends 8 per cent of its GDP on Education.

Culled from: The Leadership