The Legatum Institute, an independent policy, advisory, and advocacy organization within the Legatum group of companies, released the fifteenth edition of its Prosperity Index report titled “Prosperity Index 2021”, which consists of a gauge of prosperity across 167 countries around the globe based on material wealth and personal wellbeing. More specifically, the Legatum Prosperity Index is published on an annual basis and covers three domains (Inclusive Societies, Open Economies and Empowered People) in its assessment of each country which are further divided into twelve pillars namely “Safety & Security”, “Personal Freedom”, “Governance”, “Social Capital”, “Investment Environment”, “Enterprise Conditions”, “Market Access and Infrastructure”, “Economic Quality”, “Living Conditions”, “Health”, “Education”, and “Natural Environment”. The 2021 Legatum Prosperity Index revealed that global prosperity has leveled for the second year after witnessing a steady increase between 2015 and 2019. According to the report, said plateau can be partly attributed to the health & economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, not to mention the deterioration of several core features that underpin prosperity. More specifically, the report stated that a continuous decrease was witnessed in political accountability, freedom of speech and assembly in the majority of regions in the world. The report noted that is necessary not to take the aforementioned freedoms for granted, and it is imperative to recognize their irreplaceable role as the foundations of inclusive societies, open economies, and empowered people. Legatum also commented that nations who value the true prosperity of their people need to focus on a solid foundation of the rule of law, open markets, respect for freedoms, and personal responsibility.

According to the report, Denmark came in 1^st in the world in the 2021 Prosperity Index, followed by Norway (global rank: 2^nd), Sweden (global rank: 3^rd), Finland (global rank: 4^th) and Switzerland (global rank: 5^th), only to name a few. On the regional level, the United Arab Emirates came in first and ranked 41^st in the world, followed by Qatar (regional rank: 2^nd, world rank: 46^th), Bahrain (regional rank: 3^rd, world rank: 56^th), Kuwait (regional rank: 4^th, world rank: 58^th) and Oman (regional rank: 5^th, world rank: 67^th) among others. On the local front, Lebanon lost four positions in its overall Prosperity Index ranking when compared to the previous year and was assigned a global rank of 109 in the 2021 Prosperity Index among 167 covered countries and ranked 12^th in the MENA region. In fact, Lebanon suffered the highest setback among all countries included in the 2021 prosperity index, yet it outperformed many of its regional peers such as Egypt (global rank: 121^st, regional rank: 13^th), Iran (global rank: 123^rd, regional rank: 14^th), Iraq (global rank: 141^st, regional rank: 15^th), Libya (global rank: 154^th, regional rank: 16^th), Syria (global rank: 158^th, regional rank: 17^th) and Yemen (global rank: 165^th, regional rank: 18^th). As for the Index sub-categories, Lebanon fared best in terms of education (68^th) and living conditions (72^nd) but fared worst in terms of social capital (165^th) and economic quality (160^th).