Britain left trailing in prosperity league

THE UK is ranked 13th in a list of the most prosperous countries in the world and there are no signs of Britain reaching the top 10.

The 2010 Legatum Prosperity Index has revealed that Britain is trailing badly behind the world's most developed countries in health, education, and safety and security. In these areas it is registering below the top 20.

A lack of faith in the economy is also impacting on the UK's ability to recover from last year's recession.

Despite low inflation, of the 110 countries from across the globe covered in the report, Britain ranked 101st on public confidence in financial institutions.

This year, Norway came out as the most prosperous country, with Denmark in second place and Finland in third. Sweden came sixth in the survey.

Ashley Lenihan, senior fellow at the Legatum Institute, said: "Despite the recession, the UK continues to perform well on a number of important economic indicators as well as on indicators measuring entrepreneurship and opportunity and social capital.

"But beyond the positive headlines, there are signs of weakness in some areas for the UK.

"The index clearly shows that the UK's path to future prosperity rests in its ability to be a global leader in fostering a culture of entrepreneurship and in how well it tackles these barriers to continued growth."

The UK suffered a lot from low expectations of its citizens in 2009 - the year it went into recession - when only 36.6 per cent reported confidence in financial institutions and just 7.6 per cent were optimistic about opportunities in the job market."