Canada continues to be a leader when it comes to providing opportunities to citizens and residents, and has received stand-out results for inclusion and tolerance for immigrants in the world .
According to The Social index report which is headed by Harvard Business School and representatives from Oxford University , which delivered its third annual report last week, grading 133 countries, Canada received the first rank.
The report measures countries’ national success based on social factors.
133 countries measured, Canada ranked first for what this report called ‘opportunity’ of living. The following indicators were put into this study:
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Personal rights:
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Political rights, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and association, freedom of movement, private property rights
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Tolerance and inclusion:
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Tolerance for immigrants, tolerance for homosexuals, discrimination and violence against minorities, community safety net, religious tolerance
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Access to advanced education:
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Years of tertiary schooling, women’s average years in school, equality in the attainment of education, globally ranked universities
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Personal freedom and choice:
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Freedom over life choices, freedom of religion, early marriage (percentage of women married between 15-19 years of age), satisfied demand for contraception, corruption.
Canada also received top marks on quality of living, adult literacy, and secondary school enrollment. Moreover, it had the lowest rating for negative factors such as homicides, violent crime, political terror, and undernourishment of children.
Canada has also been rated at the top of the United Nations’ human development index for most of the past 25 years and has ranked in or near the top 10 since the index was created in 1990.
The reaction
“Canada’s tremendous ranking across this comprehensive report is evidence of a strong, inclusive country that offers unique opportunities to all, Canadian and non-Canadian alike,”
People want to live in a place where their children have access to the best quality education, where the neighbourhood they live in is safe, where vast opportunities abound, and where their personal and private freedoms are upheld and enshrined in law. That place is Canada.”
