Australia is falling behind in areas such as equal access to quality healthcare and housing affordability but still remains among the top nations achieving social progress.

The 2021 Global Social Progress Index rated nations across 52 social and environmental indicators, with Australia ranking 11th overall out of 168 countries.

Australia placed above nations such as New Zealand (12), the UK (18) and the US (24), but below countries including Canada (6) and Japan (9), and Norway which topped the index. 

The index also rated Australia’s strengths and weaknesses compared to 15 countries of similar GDP per capita such as Canada, Finland, Belgium, France, and New Zealand.

Australia out-performed most on the level of perceived criminality and expected use of tertiary education.

But the nation under-performed in several areas including dissatisfaction with housing affordability, the proportion of internet users and equal access to quality healthcare.

Australia achieved high scores in a number of categories.

On a scale of 100, Australia scored 98 on ‘Nutrition and Basic Medical Care’ 98 on Water and Sanitation’, 96 on ‘Personal Rights’ 95 on ‘Access to Basic Knowledge’, 94 on Access to Information and Communications.

But some areas attracted not so high scores with: ‘Inclusiveness’ scoring 70: ‘Personal Freedom and Choice’, 86; ‘Health and Wellness’, 86; ‘Environmental Quality’, 87, and; ‘Access to Advanced Education’, 89.

Centre for Social Impact (CSI) senior research fellow Dr Megan Weier said she believed Australia was “doing okay” on social progress, with Australia’s index ranking remaining around the same mark as last year (8) and 2019 (12).

Ms Weier, the lead researcher for the Australian Social Progress Index, said there were not many indicators in which Australia was performing better than the 15 relatively similar countries.

“What is concerning when we’re looking at a scorecard is the number of red dots that we’re seeing, which indicates underperformance and shows there’s a lot of equity issues here,” Ms Weier said.

“And this particularly impacts people who are from marginalised backgrounds. 

“It is apparent for things like health care and has really been demonstrated throughout COVID, where unequal access has been harmful for culturally and linguistically diverse communities and First Nations people for example,” she said.

Ms Weier said that when governments talked about achieving progress, they often related it to GDP and the economy.

And this was especially apparent in the context of COVID, where the focus has been on opening up the country safely and helping local businesses bounce back from the economic impact of lockdowns, she said.

Ms Weier said focusing more on social progress measures would be beneficial to Australia’s economic recovery.

“If we’re giving people secure employment conditions, adequate access to safe and affordable housing, that could enable them to participate more in the economy,” she said.

“That link between the economy and how it is that people that live within Australia contribute to the economy isn’t talked about as much as it should be.

“Because if you’re wanting people to contribute to an economy, you need to be able to create safe and secure social circumstances for people to live in,” Ms Weier said

Australia rated poorly in the index on species protection and, given the importance of climate action, working to improve this was important, she said. 

Another area Australia lagged in was equality of political power by socio-economic position.

Ms Weier said the fact people in lower socio-economic brackets were less represented in political power was deeply concerning, and should be a key focus going forward.  

“Governments should be paying attention to the voices that currently aren’t being included in decision making,” she said.

“And I think that is a really key component because improving this will provide suggestions on how changes can be made to improve things like access to quality health care and education,” Ms Weier said. 

See the 2021 Global Social Progress Index here.