London: A decade ago John Howard's four-term government came to an end. When the Liberal leader was booted out of office in the Kevin 07 Ruddslide, Australia was the envy of other nations, ranking as the world's most prosperous country.

Ten years later, post the financial crisis and the seven years of political instability that began when Julia Gillard ousted Kevin Rudd, Australia just scraped into the top ten of the Legatum Institute's Prosperity Index.

It is the country's worst performance in the annual survey since the London-based think tank began measuring prosperity across the world in 2006. New Zealand, which ranked first last year, also went backwards, losing the top spot to Norway.

But the antipodean nations outranked the United States and the United Kingdom, which came in at eighteenth (down one spot) and tenth, respectively.