Social Progress Index 1990–2020: measuring societal wellbeing over 31 years
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Measuring people’s wellbeing has been at the heart of policy and research efforts for decades. The Social Progress Index 1990–2020 offers a unique approach by focusing only on social outcomes, leaving out economic and input-oriented metrics. This paper describes in detail the methodology and calculation of the Social Progress Index over an extensive period from 1990 to 2020. The longitudinal assessment, based on publicly available data, covers 172+ countries. Over the observed period, social progress improved in nearly all countries around the world. Some countries made remarkable gains and clearly advanced their people’s standard of life. However, the rate of progress has slowed in recent years, and many countries have experienced stagnation. Some have even reversed progress that was previously achieved. The results also indicate an uneven rate and spatial distribution of progress, with some components of the Index faring better than others.
Language: English
Topic: Quality of Life Measurement
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409150005