Nigeria Ranks 125th Among World's Most Prosperous Nations

Nigeria overtakes Chad in the list of world’s most prosperous nations but lags behind Cameroon, Benin and Niger. An annual assessment of global wealth and well-being ranks Nigeria 125th in the world.

The best place Nigeria had in 2009. It was 103rd position.


Five year trend

The 2014 Prosperity Index by London-based Legatum Institute on Tuesday estimates 142 countries around the world based on eight categories, including: economy, personal freedom, education, governance, health, safety and security.

Nigeria 125

Nigeria dropped by two positions since last year, and it got best scores in the Economy sub-index, where it ranks 97th in 2014. 32.2 % of Nigerians think that it’s best time to find a job.

The country’s lowest rank is in the Safety & Security sub-index, where it occupies 137th place out of 142 countries in the rating.

Subindices

In entrepreneurship and opportunity Nigeria is placed 114th, in terms of governance it is ranked 130th, then it came out 51st for personal freedoms and was 108th on the Legatum Prosperity Index list according to the social capital. 66.3 per cent of Nigeria citizens say they can rely on others in times of need. When it comes to health, the country occupies the 132th place and ranks 125th for education. According to study there is 0.1 hospital bed per 1,000 people.

When it comes to the neighboring countries in the region, Benin claimed the overall 108th place on the list with the best performance in the Personal Freedom sub-index, where it ranks 26th in 2014, Cameroon came out 115th, Niger ranked 114th, and Chad took the 141st place with the lowest rank for education.

Rankings

Sub-Saharan African countries get nine of the bottom 10 places on the health sub-index with Sierra Leone marked as the worst performing country for this category.

European countries lead the top 30 of the annual Prosperity Index.

The most prosperous country in the world was named Norway, for the sixth year in a row.

Map Prosperity

At the bottom of the list is the Central African Republic, which also has classified last for entrepreneurship and opportunity and second to last in the health category.