The Chinese mainland ranked in 57th place in the global "Prosperity Index" published by the Legatum Institute at the end of 2019. The country moved up the ranking table by 25 places compared to the 2018 ranking.
The Legatum Prosperity Index is an annual ranking of 167 countries covering 99.4 percent of the world's population.
The index is developed by the Legatum Institute, a London-based think-tank of the private investment firm Legatum. The ranking is based on a broad set of measures that seek to capture collective well-being, taking into consideration security, personal freedoms, economic openness, governance, education, and environmental conditions.
China performs best in health and economic quality, according to the research. The country ranked 21st in the health parameter and 23rd in economic quality. When compared to a decade ago, the biggest improvement was registered in the social capital parameter, ranking in 34th place in 2019.
China has witnessed drastic poverty reduction over the years. The proportion of rural residents living below the poverty line fell from 10.2 percent in 2012 to 1.7 percent in 2018. The country is on the way to eradicating poverty in rural areas and eliminating regional poverty by 2020.
Denmark ranks in the first place. The organizers said that the world is more prosperous than it has ever been overall.
"Economies are more open due to the improvement in the investment environment and digital connectivity, as well as a reduction in administrative burdens," the research concluded.
China joined the ranks of the world's top 10 most improved economies for ease of doing business for the second year in a row thanks to a robust reform agenda, the World Bank Group's Doing Business 2020 study said in October last year.
