Hungary Ahead of Japan, UK, and U.S. in New Ranking of Future Prospects

Hungary ranks 12th among countries in terms of future prospects, ahead of Japan, the UK, and the U.S., reports Index. According to the Future Potential Index, Hungary’s fertility rate has increased, making Hungarian society more sustainable, although the number of births is still below the desired level.

In 2023, the Foundation for the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design established the Future Prospects Observatory, a non-profit organization whose main mission is to study the future prospects of social entities.

The Future Potential Index (FPI) measures the extent to which a country has the conditions that can ensure a good life in the long term.

For example, it shows:

• the extent to which a country is able to provide peace, security, and order
• whether a country can ensure the development of healthy human bonds and communities
• the country’s ability to provide for itself and future generations economically and spiritually
• and, ultimately, to create some kind of balance in human life.

The concept of the vision on which this index is based focuses on the whole of a good human life, i.e. a meaningful, orderly, social life, research director Petra Aczél explained, adding that the FPI is made up of 22 different indicators measuring different functions and impacts. The indicators can be grouped into four categories:

the conditions of order and peace, the conditions of attachment and community, the conditions of care and sustenance, and the conditions of balance and health.

Of the 38 OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, Japan and the UK are in the bottom quarter, and the U.S. is only 29th on the list. Israel and Slovakia, on the other hand, are in the top ten.

Hungary is in the second quarter, ranked 12th, ahead of, for example, the aforementioned Japan, the UK, and the U.S.

Index asked the experts what Hungary’s high ranking in the index is due to, as it almost made it into the top 10. “Hungary’s 12th position is due to the fact that we are doing relatively well in several respects, such as:

• creating conditions for peace and order
• maintaining family and attachment
• employment and higher education.”

The experts pointed out that among the countries surveyed, Hungary has seen the biggest increase in fertility rates since 2010, which could be due to Hungarian family policy. However, they noted that the number of births is still below the desired level.

There were also some aspects that pulled Hungary down in the ranking.

Hungary performs worse in terms of life expectancy, average wages, labor productivity, or alcohol consumption,

the experts pointed out.

“The top three countries in the 2022 ranking, Iceland, Israel, and Denmark, are outstanding performers in peace and order, attachment and community, and caring, respectively, but Germany and Norway, which follow them, also show similar results,” Oszkár Zoltán Szántó, scientific director, highlighted. He explained that Iceland, for instance, is the best performer in peace and order, partly due to its specific geography, while Israel is among the best in the area of attachment (family, belonging). Denmark is the best performer of all countries in terms of care and material wealth.

The index also addresses the overall role of design in shaping future well-being, and systems for describing and measuring the processes of digitization. In this way, the FPI will be able to link in the future with organizational development, geopolitics, and innovation.

Via Index, Featured image via Pixabay