From the point of scientific justification and practicality, economic development needs quantitative assessment. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to have adequate methods for quantitative evaluation. As a result of our analysis, we have computed Economic Development Index for 195 countries and territories. The dataset comprises 5 indices representing various dimensions of development across countries. Indices include Human Development Index (HDI), Global Innovation Index (GII), Index of Economic Freedom, Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) and GDP (PPP, current international $). You can find more information about our methodology in our published paper.

Ranking of Countries

Economic Development Index / 2024

Switzerland 1

Sweden 2

Singapore 3

Finland 4

United States of America 5

Netherlands 6

Denmark 7

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 8

Republic of Korea 9

Germany 10

Canada 11

Ireland 12

Japan 13

Estonia 14

Norway 15

France 16

Luxembourg 17

Australia 18

Israel 19

Hong Kong 20

Taiwan 21

Iceland 22

New Zealand 23

Austria 24

Belgium 25

China 26

United Arab Emirates 27

Cyprus 28

Czechia 29

Liechtenstein 30

Spain 31

Italy 32

Portugal 33

Malta 34

Lithuania 35

Slovenia 36 Malaysia 37

Latvia 38

Poland 39

Bulgaria 40

Hungary 41

Croatia 42

Chile 43

Saudi Arabia 44

Qatar 45

Slovakia 46

Turkey 47

Greece 48

Uruguay 49

Romania 50

Andorra 51

Viet Nam 52

Thailand 53

Georgia 54

San Marino 55

Bahamas 56

Mauritius 57

Seychelles 58

India 59

Costa Rica 60

Serbia 61

Bahrain 62

Oman 63

Armenia 64

Barbados 65

Brazil 66

Montenegro 67

North Macedonia 68

Kuwait 69

Indonesia 70

Mexico 71

Colombia 72

Kosovo 73

Philippines 74

Ukraine 75

Kazakhstan 76

Brunei Darussalam 77

Antigua and Barbuda 78

Moldova 79

Russian Federation 80

Peru 81

Jordan 82

Bhutan 83

South Africa 84

Argentina 85

Panama 86

Albania 87

Mongolia 88

Jamaica 89

Morocco 90

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 91

Botswana 92

Bosnia and Herzegovina 93

Saint Kitts and Nevis 94

Saint Lucia 95

Islamic Republic of Iran 96

Fiji 97

Grenada 98

Guyana 99

Belarus 100

Uzbekistan 101

Cabo Verde 102

Tunisia 103

Dominican Republic 104

Samoa 105

Egypt 106

Azerbaijan 107

Trinidad and Tobago 108

Paraguay 109

Sri Lanka 110

Belize 111

Dominica 112

Ecuador 113

Iraq 114

Namibia 115

Tonga 116

Lebanon 117

Kyrgyzstan 118

Ghana 119

El Salvador 120

Kenya 121

Gabon 122

Palau 123

Senegal 124

Rwanda 125

Bangladesh 126

Bolivia 127

Maldives 128

Côte d'Ivoire 129

Algeria 130

Pakistan 131

Cambodia 132

Tajikistan 133

Nepal 134

Suriname 135

Guatemala 136

Honduras 137

Turkmenistan 138

Lao People's Democratic Republic 139

Cuba 140

Tanzania 141

Vanuatu 142

Nigeria 143

Marshall Islands 144

Benin 145

Eswatini 146

Sao Tome and Principe 147

Zambia 148

Madagascar 149

Nicaragua 150

Timor-Leste 151

Togo 152

Cameroon 153

Uganda 154

Micronesia 155

Libya 156

Mauritania 157

Angola 158

Papua New Guinea 159

Congo 160

Nauru 161

Zimbabwe 162

Gambia 163

Solomon Islands 164

Myanmar 165

Burkina Faso 166

Malawi 167

Ethiopia 168

Mozambique 169

Guinea 170

Lesotho 171

Venezuela 172

Equatorial Guinea 173

Congo 174

Tuvalu 175

Kiribati 176

Niger 177

Mali 178

Djibouti 179

Burundi 180

Sierra Leone 181

Haiti 182

Syrian Arab Republic 183

Comoros 184

Liberia 185

Afghanistan 186

Chad 187

Yemen 188

Guinea-Bissau 189

Sudan 190

Central African Republic 191

Eritrea 192

Somalia 193

South Sudan 194

Democratic People's Republic of Korea 195

Appendix A

Statistical and Methodological Documentation

Economic Development Index (EDI), 2024 Edition

A1. Data Sources

The 2024 EDI integrates internationally recognized development indicators from the following institutions:

Human Development Index (HDI) — UNDP
Global Innovation Index (GII) — World Intellectual Property Organization
Index of Economic Freedom — Heritage Foundation
Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) — Transparency International
GDP (PPP, current international $) — World Bank

Latest available values ≤ 2024 were used where full 2024 coverage was unavailable.

A2. Sample Construction

Initial country union across all datasets: 195
Sovereign-state ISO3 validation applied
Non-sovereign entities excluded
Final N = 195 countries

A3. Data Preprocessing

A3.1 Log Transformation

GDP (PPP total) exhibits extreme positive skewness.

Transformation applied:

GDPlog=log⁡10(GDPPPP)GDP_{log} = \log_{10}(GDP_{PPP})GDPlog=log10(GDPPPP)

This reduces heteroskedasticity and scale distortion.

A3.2 Missing Data Treatment

Method: Iterative multivariate imputation (regression-based)

Maximum iterations: 20
Deterministic posterior
Missingness assumed MAR
All variables included in imputation model

No listwise deletion was applied.

A4. Normalization Procedure

All sub-indexes were rescaled to (0–1) using min–max normalization:

Ni,c=Xi,c−min⁡(Xi)max⁡(Xi)−min⁡(Xi)N_{i,c} = \frac{X_{i,c} - \min(X_i)}{\max(X_i) - \min(X_i)}Ni,c=max(Xi)−min(Xi)Xi,c−min(Xi)

This preserves ordinal structure and relative distances.

A5. Correlation Matrix

(All variables standardized to 0–1)

VariableHDIGIIEFCPIGDP_log

HDI1.00HighHighHighModerate

GIIHigh1.00ModerateModerateModerate

EFHighModerate1.00HighModerate

CPIHighModerateHigh1.00Moderate

GDP_logModerateModerateModerateModerate1.00

(All correlations positive and statistically significant at p < 0.01.)

Interpretation: Indicators load positively on a common latent development dimension.

A6. Factor Analysis

Extraction method: Exploratory Factor Analysis
Number of factors: 1
Rotation: None (single-factor solution)

A6.1 Eigenvalues

FactorEigenvalueVariance Explained

F1> 2.0> 50%

Single dominant latent factor supports unidimensional development construct.

A6.2 Factor Loadings

Sub-indexLoadingNormalized Weight

HDI0.2090.273

CPI0.1830.238

GII0.1730.225

EF0.1120.146

GDP_log0.0920.119

Weights computed as:

αi=∣λi∣∑∣λi∣\alpha_i = \frac{|\lambda_i|}{\sum |\lambda_i|}αi=∑∣λi∣∣λi∣

A7. Sampling Adequacy Tests

(Computed from scaled matrix)

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) statistic: > 0.70 (acceptable)
Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity: p < 0.001

Conclusion: Factor structure statistically appropriate.

A8. Final Index Formula

EDIc=∑i=15αiNi,cEDI_c = \sum_{i=1}^{5} \alpha_i N_{i,c}EDIc=i=1∑5αiNi,c

Where:

αi\alpha_iαi = factor-derived weight
Ni,cN_{i,c}Ni,c = normalized sub-index

Factor scores were rescaled to 0–100 for interpretability.

A9. Robustness Checks

A9.1 Equal Weight Sensitivity Test

Index recomputed using equal weights:

EDIequal=15∑NiEDI_{equal} = \frac{1}{5} \sum N_iEDIequal=51∑Ni

Result:

Spearman rank correlation with factor-weighted EDI > 0.95
Top 20 countries stable
Bottom 20 countries stable

Conclusion: Ranking robust to weighting scheme.

A9.2 GDP Dominance Test

Correlation between EDI and GDP_log:

Moderate but not dominant.

HDI and CPI contribute more strongly to latent structure than GDP scale.

Conclusion: Index is not merely a size index.

A10. Interpretation

The 2024 structure indicates development is statistically driven primarily by:

Human capability (HDI)
Institutional quality (CPI)
Innovation ecosystem (GII)
Economic freedom
Economic scale (GDP)

This aligns with modern development theory emphasizing human capital and institutions.

A11. Comparison with 2012–2019 Model

Dimension2012–20192024

Sub-index count115

Weight extractionFactor analysisFactor analysis

NormalizationMin–maxMin–max

GDP treatmentPPP totalLog PPP total

Missing dataMultiple imputationMultiple imputation

Statistical methodology consistent; index basket adapted due to global data structural changes.

A12. Reproducibility

All steps included in workbook:
EDI_2024_continuation_factor_analysis_5_subindexes.xlsx

Sheets include:

Imputed matrix
Scaled matrix
Factor weights
Final rankings
Metadata