The Social Progress Index is a metric that measures progress through fulfillment of basic human needs (rather than traditional indicators of economic growth).

First released in 2013, the Social Progress Index (SPI) measures a comprehensive array of components of social and environmental performance, aggregating them into an overall framework.

The index, which covers about 99% of the world’s population, was designed by Professor Michael E. Porter at the Harvard Business School, Professor Scott Stern at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and the Social Progress Imperative, a nonprofit group.

“The Social Progress Index shows that countries with similar levels of GDP can have very different levels of social progress,” said Michael Green, Executive Director of the Social Progress Imperative.

One example: Costa Rica and Thailand rank 59th and 58th in the world in GDP, respectively. However, Thailand ranks 57th in the world on the SPI whereas Costa Rica ranks 29th due in large part to significantly higher ratings in personal safety, personal rights, and tolerance and inclusion.