The US have dropped out of the top ten of the global prosperity rankings for the first time with the latest findings recording a weakening performance across five of the index's eight sub-categories.

Legatum Institute's prosperity index, now in its sixth year, assesses global wealth and wellbeing and benchmarks 142 countries around the world in eight categories: economy, education, entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, health, personal freedom, safety and security and social capital.

So what do the latest prosperity rankings show us? Scandinavian countries Norway, Denmark and Sweden take first, second and third on the index with Australia and New Zealand coming in fourth and fifth respectively.

Overall prosperity in Europe has increased - the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany have seen their positions rise and are now ranked at eighth, tenth and 14th place respectively. Despite overall prosperity increasing, more than two thirds of European countries have recorded a decline in the score for the economy sub-category since 2009.

The drop for the US in the rankings has come at a crucial time according to Jeffrey Gedmin, President and CEO of the Legatum Institute:

"As the US struggles to reclaim the building blocks of the American Dream, now is a good time to consider who is best placed to lead the country back to prosperity and compete with the more agile countries that have pushed the US out of the top ten."

A drop in the economy sub-index has put the US at 20th place - far behind many of Asia's leading economies and Eurozone countries such as Germany. The UK economy is placed at 26th place coming in behind behind Kuwait and Ireland.

The rankings have placed:

• Norway top for the overall prosperity index

• Switzerland is number one for the economy sub-category

• Denmark have scored highest for entrepreneurship and opportunity

• Top spot for the governance sub-category goes to Switzerland

• Luxembourg is ranked number one for health

• The highest ranking country for safety and security is Iceland

• Canada score highest for the personal freedom sub-category

• Norway rank highest for social capital

Below is the table showing the overall prosperity index rankings by country from 2009 to 2012. Please note that the number of countries ranked has increased from 110 to 142 so there may not be data for all countries. The spreadsheet which you can download shows the rankings by sub-categories also.

Data summary

Global prosperity index, 2009-2012 Click heading to sort table. Download this data country 2009 2010 2011 2012 Norway 1 1 1 1 Denmark 2 2 2 2 Sweden 7 6 5 3 Australia 5 4 3 4 New Zealand 3 5 4 5 Canada 6 7 6 6 Finland 4 3 7 7 Netherlands 11 9 9 8 Switzerland 8 8 8 9 Ireland 9 11 11 10 Luxembourg 11 United States 10 10 10 12 United Kingdom 13 13 13 13 Germany 16 15 15 14 Iceland 12 12 12 15 Austria 14 14 14 16 Belgium 15 16 17 17 Hong Kong 21 20 19 18 Singapore 17 17 16 19 Taiwan 22 22 20 20 France 18 19 18 21 Japan 19 18 21 22 Spain 20 23 23 23 Slovenia 23 21 22 24 Malta 25 Portugal 25 26 25 26 South Korea 29 27 24 27 Czech Republic 24 24 26 28 United Arab Emirates 27 30 27 29 Cyprus 30 Uruguay 32 28 29 31 Poland 28 29 28 32 Italy 26 25 30 33 Chile 35 32 31 34 Estonia 31 35 33 35 Slovak Republic 37 37 32 36 Costa Rica 30 33 34 37 Kuwait 34 31 35 38 Hungary 38 34 36 39 Israel 33 36 38 40 Argentina 44 41 39 41 Panama 42 40 37 42 Lithuania 40 42 44 43 Brazil 45 45 42 44 Malaysia 43 43 43 45 Kazakhstan 51 50 46 46 Latvia 41 47 51 47 Bulgaria 47 46 48 48 Greece 36 39 40 49 Croatia 39 38 41 50 Trinidad & Tobago 46 44 47 51 Saudi Arabia 57 49 49 52 Vietnam 50 61 62 53 Belarus 55 54 50 54 China 58 58 52 55 Thailand 54 52 45 56 Montenegro 57 Sri Lanka 68 59 63 58 Mongolia 60 60 60 59 Romania 48 51 58 60 Mexico 49 53 53 61 Jamaica 52 55 55 62 Indonesia 85 70 70 63 Uzbekistan 65 76 64 64 Belize 53 56 56 65 Russia 62 63 59 66 Philippines 61 64 66 67 Paraguay 69 67 57 68 Colombia 64 65 61 69 Botswana 59 57 67 70 Ukraine 63 69 74 71 Peru 72 73 68 72 Morocco 66 62 71 73 South Africa 67 66 69 74 Macedonia 70 72 76 75 Ecuador 77 77 83 76 Jordan 75 74 65 77 Tunisia 56 48 54 78 Serbia 79 Venezuela 76 75 73 80 Dominican Rep 71 68 72 81 Laos 82 Namibia 74 71 80 83 Moldova 83 86 79 84 Lebanon 90 84 82 85 Tajikistan 86 Ghana 89 90 78 87 Kyrgyzstan 88 Turkey 80 80 75 89 El Salvador 81 78 77 90 Nicaragua 73 87 86 91 Albania 92 Georgia 93 Azerbaijan 94 Bolivia 84 82 85 95 Honduras 79 85 87 96 Guatemala 82 81 84 97 Armenia 98 Bosnia 99 Algeria 91 79 88 100 India 78 88 91 101 Iran 93 92 97 102 Bangladesh 95 96 95 103 Mali 94 93 90 104 Malawi 105 Egypt 87 89 89 106 Cambodia 101 95 94 107 Nepal 88 91 93 108 Tanzania 96 97 96 109 Zambia 98 101 101 110 Rwanda 105 98 98 111 Burkina Faso 112 Syria 86 83 81 113 Niger 114 Cameroon 99 102 99 115 Kenya 97 104 102 116 Uganda 102 99 100 117 Senegal 92 94 92 118 Benin 119 Republic of Congo 120 Djibouti 121 Mauritania 122 Nigeria 103 106 104 123 Mozambique 104 103 103 124 Sudan 106 100 105 125 Cote d'Ivoire 126 Guinea 127 Sierra Leone 128 Angola 129 Liberia 130 Iraq 131 Pakistan 107 109 107 132 Ethiopia 108 107 108 133 Yemen 100 105 106 134 Zimbabwe 110 110 109 135 Togo 136 Burundi 137 Haiti 138 Chad 139 Afghanistan 140 Democratic Republic of the Congo 141 Central African Republic 109 108 110 142

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