PHOTO
However, the study shows that the nation trails behind other contries in converting its wealth into well-being
Doha — A new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reveals that, when it comes to its current-level Sustainable Economic Development Assessment (SEDA) scores, Qatar outperforms the GCC and the rest of the world in most dimensions—including income, employment, health, infrastructure, income equality, civil society, and governance. Across these dimensions, Qatar topped the average scores of both the GCC and the rest of the world.
The dimensions in which Qatar lags behind other GCC countries are economic stability, education, and environment. 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.
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.
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.
“We have found a clear and measurable association between financial inclusion—access to basic financial services such as a bank account—and national well-being,” said Douglas Beal, BCG's Director of Social Impact and an author of the report. “Today, in the UAE, private sector innovation can play a significant role in improving living standards. But to make meaningful progress in this area, banks must pursue financial inclusion using their core business, and not just pursue typical corporate social responsibility strategies.”
The findings are based on BCG’s latest study of worldwide economic growth trends using the firm’s Sustainable Economic Development Assessment (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. SEDA scores countries in two ways: the current level of well-being and recent progress in well-being from 2006 to 2014. It also assesses how countries convert wealth and growth into well-being. [1]
The report, titled The Private-Sector Opportunity to Improve Well-Being: The 2016 Sustainable Economic Development Assessment, was released in July.
SPOTLIGHT ON QATAR
Overall, when looking at Qatar’s current level of well-being as well as its recent progress in that measure, the nation finds itself in the ‘good and improving’ category.
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.
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.
Based on BCG’s SEDA analysis, Qatar is lower and falling further behind in environment—when pitted against the rest of the world.
BCG’s report also reveals that, on a global level, Qatar trails behind other countries in converting wealth into well-being.
THE IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION
The 2016 SEDA report took a close look at the issue of financial inclusion. The analysis found that the strong link between well-being, as measured by SEDA, and financial inclusion existed even when controlling for income.
“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,” added Beal. “Our study finds that two factors are critical to improving financial inclusion: a regulatory structure that provides safeguards but allows innovation and a solid infrastructure, including communications networks and payment systems. With those two elements in place, private-sector innovation in Qatar can flourish.”
GLOBAL RESULTS
Highlights of the study’s key global findings include:
· The United States’ performance in converting both wealth and growth into well-being is below par globally, while Germany's performance is above par on both counts. The UK's strong performance in converting wealth into well-being is being threatened by its recent subpar conversion of economic growth into well-being improvements.
· A European divide: Among countries in Western Europe, those with high current levels of well-being (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway) are making greater progress than those with low current-level scores (Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, and Spain), particularly in employment and education. These countries, concentrated in southwest Europe, are performing particularly poorly in employment and are falling further behind the rest of the world in that area.
· Central and Eastern European countries that have recently joined or are in the process of joining the EU have made strong gains in sustainability measures, which include income equality, civil society, governance, and the environment
· China is converting wealth into well-being at a rate slightly above par and—remarkably, given its very high growth rate—is converting growth into well-being at par. China continues to score low on the environment, however. India also produced strong recent progress improvements but converted its strong growth into well-being at a rate slightly below average. India also leads the pack in progress on financial inclusion, as nearly 200 million people have gained access to financial services.
· Peru has outstripped Brazil’s recent progress in well-being with strong gains in employment and education.
· Ethiopia holds the top spot when it comes to recent progress in well-being. Ethiopia’s performance is emblematic of gains in sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.
A copy of the report can be downloaded at www.bcgperspectives.com.
--Ends--
About The Boston Consulting Group
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in all regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their enterprises. Our customized approach combines deep insight into the dynamics of companies and markets with close collaboration at all levels of the client organization. This ensures that our clients achieve sustainable competitive advantage, build more capable organizations, and secure lasting results. Founded in 1963, BCG is a private company with 85 offices in 48 countries. For more information, please visit bcg.com.
[1] The data set includes 162 countries plus Hong Kong, which is a special administrative region of China. For the sake of simplicity, the report refers to all entities as “countries.”
© Press Release 2016
