Albania improves ranking by 10 positions in WEF’s 2018 Inclusive Development Index

Albania has gained 10 positions in the latest World Economic Forum’s 2018 Inclusive Development Index.

The index takes into account the “living standards, environmental sustainability and protection of future generations from further indebtedness”, the WEF said. It urged the leaders to urgently move to a new model of inclusive growth and development, saying reliance on GDP as a measure of economic achievement is fuelling short-termism and inequality.

The 2018 index, which measures progress of 103 economies on three individual pillars—growth and development; inclusion; and inter-generational equity—has been divided into two parts. The first part covers 29 advanced economies and the second 74 emerging economies.

Last year Albania was ranked 38th out of 78 countries. There is progress not only compared to others but also compared to the country itself, as the score has climbed from 4.02 to 4.08.

Compared to the region, Albania is slightly below Macedonia in the ranking, and convincingly above Serbia, which is ranked 43th in the ranking.

While calculating GDP per capita Albania ranks 38th in the world, but when counting other economic factors it ranks 28th.

These factors include: labor productivity, life expectancy and health, employment, net income, poverty rate, inequality, savings, pollution, public debt, etc.

Among these indicators, the worst performance is marked in terms of employment and public debt.

But what is worrying, when it comes to progress over the last five years, Albania is at the bottom of the table, with regard to the employment trend, the reduction of poverty, and especially the median average income, where there is a decline.

Norway remains the world’s most inclusive advanced economy, while Lithuania again tops the list of emerging economies, WEF said on Monday while releasing the yearly index before the start of its annual meeting, to be attended by several world leaders including US President Donald Trump.

The WEF also said that rich and poor countries alike are struggling to protect future generations, as it cautioned political and business leaders against expecting higher growth to be a panacea for the social frustrations, including those of younger generations who have shaken the politics of many countries in recent years.

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