New Zealand is ranked first in the world for social and environmental progress:
New Zealand has come first in a global index that ranks countries by social and environmental performance rather than economic output in a drive to make social progress a priority for politicians and businesses.
The Social Progress Index (SPI), published on Thursday, rates 132 countries on more than 50 indicators, including health, sanitation, shelter, personal safety, access to information, sustainability, tolerance and inclusion and access to education.
It asks questions such as whether a country can satisfy its people's basic needs and whether it has the infrastructure and capacity to allow its citizens to improve the quality of their lives and reach their full potential.
Our full results are here.
This highlights the narrowness of the National government's vision. All they care about is economic growth (for the rich), and they're willing to sacrifice anything - including social equality, our environment, and our human rights - to get it. But its those things which make us a decent country to live in, not coal mines, oil rigs, and dairy farms.
