The 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index™ is the world’s only global assessment of wealth and wellbeing. Now in its third year, this edition builds on the previous versions with expanded data and refined analysis. The Prosperity Index™ uses a holistic definition of prosperity to include both material wealth and quality of life. Rather than replicating other measurements that rank countries by their actual levels of wealth, life satisfaction, or development, the Prosperity Index produces rankings based on the foundations of prosperity. These are the factors that help drive economic growth or produce happy citizens in a given country.

The Prosperity Index™ assesses 104 countries, accounting for 90 percent of the world’s population, and is based on 79 different variables, each of which has a demonstrated effect either on economic growth or on personal wellbeing. You may download a summary report here, which provides the country rankings, a number of key findings, and background on how the Index was created. More detailed information on the Prosperity Index™, including data sources, profiles of each country, and interactive tools for further exploration, can be found at www.prosperity.com.