Rabat - Morocco was ranked 85th in the latest edition of the prosperity index, an annual ranking developed by the Legatum institute, which measures prosperity in 142 countries. The kingdom lost three places in comparison to last year's index.
The index used a set of 'traditional criteria' that are the most commonly used and widely accepted measures of national success, such as the size of a nation's economy and GDP per capita. However, the authors of the study believe that these criteria alone are 'too narrow to capture a country's overall success'. Therefore, the index used a range of new factors described as 'GDP and beyond' including wellbeing, health, education, opportunity and personal freedoms among others.
In terms of personal freedoms, Morocco was ranked 113th of the 142 countries surveyed. This is a major setback given the fact that the kingdom enjoyed a better ranking by the same index two years ago, moving from the 103rd position in 2012 to 94 in 2013.
According to the Index, Morocco still suffers from problems related to bad governance. In this year's rankings, the country has lost three positions in the governance category, moving from 69 in 2013 to 72 in 2014.
However, Education and Health seem to be making progress although in a very slow pace. The vital sectors climbed one and two positions, respectively. They were ranked 106 and 76 in 2014 in comparison to 107 and 78 in 2013.
Morocco was ranked in 5th position in the MENA region behind the United Arab Emirates (28th overall), Kuwait (36), Saudi Arabia (47) and Jordan (82).
Despite this not-so-good overall performance, the kingdom managed somehow to be ranked better than its North African neighbors. It came ahead of Tunisia (92 overall), Algeria (97) and Egypt (116).
The 2014 prosperity index ranked Norway as the most prosperous country in the world, while Central African Republic is the less prosperous one.