The idea of the populyst index™ is that there are three main vectors of wealth creation in any economy: Innovation & Productivity, Demographics & Health, and Society & Governance.
Innovation & Productivity encompasses education, infrastructure and the creation of intellectual property assets. Demographics & Health includes population growth, the age profile of the population and health metrics such as child mortality. Society & Governance relates to the economic context, the level of corruption, the amount of competition, the ease of doing business and access to capital markets.
Sweden is at top of the populyst index latest ranking with a total score of 3.64. The other top five countries are Switzerland 3.42, Singapore 3.33, the United Kingdom 3.27 and the United States 3.06.
The index ranges from -6 to +6. The fact that no country currently exceeds a +4 rating is a reflection of the challenges now faced by even the most advanced economies, the main shortfall in their case coming from a deteriorating demographic picture. In the case of Sweden, its DEMOGRAPHICS score is neutral, while its INNOVATION and SOCIETY scores are strong.
Below are all the score components for Sweden:
