DOHA: Qatar has showed the strongest progress scores in terms of income and governance compared to its regional peers and the rest of the world. The country has outperformed the GCC region and the rest of the world in its current level Sustainable Economic Development Assessment (SEDA) scores, said a report released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) yesterday.
SEDA scores include various social and economic dimensions such as income, employment, health, infrastructure, income equality, civil society, and governance. Qatar topped the average scores of both the GCC and the rest of the world across these dimensions, noted the report.
“This means that among countries with the same income (GDP per capita) level, those with higher levels of financial inclusion are likely to have higher well-being levels,” said Douglas Beal, (pictured) BCG’s Director of Social Impact and an author of the report.
Interestingly, while Qatar showed the strongest recent progress scores in income and governance—compared to the GCC region and the rest of the world—it is losing ground across other dimensions.
All in all, when assessing Qatar’s performance versus the rest of the world, it is clear that across various dimensions—such as income, employment, infrastructure, governance, education, and income equality—the nation is higher and moving further ahead.
The dimensions in which Qatar lags behind other GCC countries are economic stability, education, and environment. In addition, the analysis shows that Qatar is not effectively converting its wealth into well-being—in fact, on this particular front, the nation’s performance is below par globally. In parallel, the data from BCG’s study demonstrates that Qatar is able to translate its economic growth into well-being improvements for its citizens at an average rate.
From a regional perspective, Qatar’s current-level scores are mostly above par. In terms of recent-progress scores, when stacked up against the average of the GCC, the nation shows strong gains in areas such as income and governance. However, there is no denying that it is falling further behind in dimensions such as education, civil society and environment.
The report also discusses the need for the private sector to contribute to improving a country’s wellbeing, and specifically looks at the role of the banking sector at creating financial inclusion.
The findings are based on BCG’s latest study of worldwide economic growth trends using the firm’s SEDA. The fact-based, comprehensive analysis measures the relative well-being of 163 countries—including Qatar —through ten key areas, including economic stability, health, governance, and environment.
