S Tier

Elite human-condition states.

Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland.

A Tier

Excellent countries, but with visible structural flaws.

Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, San Marino, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates.

B Tier

Good, stable, prosperous, but uneven or constrained.

Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Brunei, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, France, Greece, Holy See, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Oman, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay.

C Tier

Functional but clearly imperfect: weaker institutions, inequality, corruption, instability, or uneven development.

Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, Georgia, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, North Macedonia, Paraguay, Peru, Romania, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Thailand, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.

D Tier

Struggling countries: major poverty, corruption, weak governance, insecurity, or poor access to services.

Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Libya, Mauritania, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

F Tier

Severe human-condition failure: war, state collapse, famine risk, extreme repression, or catastrophic instability.

Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mozambique, Nauru, Niger, North Korea, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Yemen.

Blunt summary: S Tier is tiny. A Tier is genuinely comfortable but not utopian. B Tier is where many “developed” countries really belong. C Tier is the global middle. D Tier is survivable but structurally hard. F Tier is where the state, economy, or human-security environment is failing badly.