In the 2019 Prosperity Index ranking released by the London-based Legatum Institute on Monday revealed that Nepal has risen in overall prosperity rankings.
The prosperity index analysed 167 countries on 12 different measures of prosperity from economic metrics to safety and security, personal freedom, health, education and living conditions.
The 2019 index shows Nepal is ranked 115th in the world for overall prosperity, a rise of 13 places since 2009 when it was ranked 128th.
“Over the last decade, Nepal has seen the biggest improvement in safety and security, rising from 158th to 78th globally,” reported Nepali Times quoting Shaun Flanagan, Director of the Metrics Team at Legatum Prosperity Index.
“But Nepal has also seen improvements across the other institutional pillars of Personal Freedom and Social Capital,” Shaun Flanagan added.
“However, despite an improvement in Nepal’s economic quality, the openness of the economy has stagnated, and consequently the country has fallen from 117th to 130th in the world rankings,” Flanagan said.
“Personal freedom is important for a country to be prosperous,” Flanagan added.
“The Personal Freedom pillar incorporate elements such as freedom of assembly and association, freedom of
speech, absence of legal discrimination, and social tolerance,” he further said.
“This is Nepal’s strongest pillar, ranking 67th in the world,” Flanagan reiterated.
“The country bucks the global trend of decline in personal freedom over the past decade, and its improvement has resulted in it moving up 14 places in the rankings,” he added.