It’s All in the Numbers

Numbers are funny things.

A truly brilliant mathematician or a truly crooked accountant can make them do just about anything.

Much like the evolution of the letters we use today, the use of the 10 glyphs (0 through 9) that we use started many centuries ago. Some scholars date the first use of most of these digits to around 500 A.D. in India, with the zero being brought into the fold a few hundred years later. By the 10th century they had made their way west to Persia and eventually the western world and now are called the Hindu-Arabic numeral system.

Ever since their invention, people have been able to count things much easier—things like gross domestic product (GDP). For the uninitiated, GDP is the monetary value attached to all of the finished goods and services a country produces in one year.

Based on GDP, Canada has the 10th largest economy in the world, but we have a tenuous grip on that spot at best. Just 10 years ago we sat comfortably in eighth place ahead of Spain and Korea. But by 2010—the span of just five short years—Spain and Korea fell out of the Top 10, replaced by new powerhouses Brazil and India.

So what does the future hold for the current No. 10? Experts now are pointing to 2020 as the possible year we drop another place, losing our spot among this select group of countries, with Russia nosing in.

The factors influencing this drop are many, but it’s safe to say that with new economies booming and oil prices plummeting like Icarus, the numbers appear to be against us.

But does GDP matter? Is there a better way to judge the totality of life beyond the economic numbers? The Social Progress Imperative says yes.

This group of big thinkers and tall foreheads has created the Social Progress Index (SPI), a rating based on dozens of criteria that measure well-being, social and economic opportunities, and basic human needs. For example, a country’s basic medical care and nutrition, access to advanced education, personal safety, tolerance and inclusion, and the big one, life expectancy, all are measured and ranked.

The SPI was designed to complement traditional economic indicators like GDP, but adding a big-picture glimpse at what truly is going on in individual countries.

“GDP tells us quite a lot about a country's progress, but it's definitely not the whole story. Together with the Social Progress Index, it can give us an all-around picture of a country’s inclusive growth,” said Steve Almond, SPI board member and global chairman of Deloitte.

The ranking, released earlier this year, placed Norway on top for 2015, followed by Sweden and Switzerland. We ranked 6th, Canada. I guess it is all in the numbers.

So long, 2015. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.