According to the Legatum 2020 Prosperity Index, Uganda has been ranked in position 133 in overall prosperity out of 167 countries globally.
The report puts Uganda behind other East African counterparts Rwanda (104), Kenya (113), Tanzania (117), Burundi (157) while South Sudan was ranked the worst performer at 167.
The Legatum prosperity report considered 12 benchmarks including safety and security, personal freedom, governance, social capital, investment environment, enterprise conditions, market access and infrastructure, economic quality, living conditions, health, education and natural environment.
Uganda was also ranked poorly in living conditions, health and education.
However, the report shows that Uganda has performed most strongly in investment environment and enterprise conditions but weakest in living conditions of people. The investment environment pillar measures the extent to which investments are adequately protected and accessed.
On the other hand, the enterprise conditions pillar measures the degree to which a reasonable quality of life is experienced by all , including material resources, shelter, basic services and connectivity.
On matters regarding personal freedom, Uganda ranked 120 slightly behind Tanzania at 109, Kenya at 94 and Rwanda at 114. The pillar measures progress towards basic legal rights, individual liberties and social tolerance.
On the pillar of investment environment, Uganda scored 86 and scored 142 for living conditions. The higher the score from 1, the worse the rank.
In terms of governance (which according to the report measures the extent to which there are checks and restraints on power and whether governments operate effectively and without corruption) Uganda is in 122nd position behind Tanzania in 97th position, Kenya 84th, and Rwanda in 50.
Even where Uganda performed better (investment environment) it only beat Tanzania and South Sudan but not Kenya (76) and Rwanda (39).
The researchers noted that the Prosperity Index methodology is reviewed each year and changes may be made to the placement of indicators, make-up of elements, and data sources used, in order to ensure it is as useful and relevant as possible. This means that the scores and rankings may have changed from what was reported in previous editions of the Prosperity Index.
Globally, Denmark was ranked in position 1 with distinctions in social capital, living conditions and personal freedom, followed by Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and Finland in the 5th position.
On the African continent, Mauritius beat all in 44th position followed by South Africa in 138th position.