On September 18, 2013 Standard Chartered announced the launch of the Standard Chartered Development Index (SCDI), as part of a new report entitled “Measuring Sustainable Development.”
According to the press release distributed by Standard Chartered, “The SCDI measures the change in various development indicators from 2000-12 using GDP per capita, years of education, life expectancy, environmental health (including air pollution and availability of fresh water) and ecosystem vitality (or the long-term sustainability of the environment, including climate change); it is an indicator of progress over a period of time, rather than a static ranking at any given point.”
The report covers 31 economies, from both the developing and the developed world.
The top ten performers in the inaugural SCDI were: Ghana, Uganda, Korea, Bangladesh, Singapore, Egypt, Nigeria, India, Brazil and Indonesia.
John Calverley, Head of Macroeconomic Research and the author of the report, said: “The idea that GDP growth is not the only thing worth pursuing is far from new but it has become much more widely recognised and researched in recent decades. Our report and the measures within the SCDI highlight the point that as countries become more wealthy and middle classes grow, these issues naturally become higher priorities and are implemented via regulations, government spending or stakeholder insistence.
“Issues remain around distribution of income and meeting the need for environmental sustainability across many of our markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. However, there are significant efforts among governments, international agencies, NGOs and researchers to analyse, discuss and formulate policies on these issues. We hope our report makes a contribution to this continued focus.”
You may download the report and read the press release on the news page of the Standard Chartered internet site.