This study has analysed the performance of the Nordic countries across three highly different beyond-GDP metrics: the Sustainable Development Index, Transitions Performance Index and Doughnut Economy Indicators. Its results are startling, showing that while the Nordic’s reputation as top performers in terms of societal welfare is well earned, they are in fact operating well beyond the thresholds of ecological sustainability. In 2022 each Nordic country scored lower than the EU average in the Sustainable Development Index, with Sweden landing as the top performer with a rank of 134/163 and Norway the worst performer with a rank of 155/163. Looking at the most recent 2015 data for the Doughnut Economy Indicators–with the obvious proviso that this data is now significantly out of data–Denmark was the only country to outperform the EU on any biophysical indicators. Even here it does so only in 3/6 cases, and is still transgressing biophysical boundaries in an unsafe manner even in these cases. Performance is otherwise fairly even, with every country performing worst across at least one indicator. Notably Denmark, along with Norway, performs worst in two indicators. In the case of the Transitions Performance Index while overall every Nordic country except Iceland outperforms the EU average, the picture again changes dramatically when one attends to the environmental transition. Here Denmark is again the only country to score above the EU average, while all other Nordic countries score below it.
However, this core finding should not be taken to reflect uniquely badly on the Nordic countries, and in fact unearths the Nordics’ high potential for global sustainability leadership. Analysis according to the doughnut indicators highlights that no country on earth is managing to provide the full range of social provisions for its population while remaining beneath the ecological ceiling, while the sustainable development index explicitly states that every country is developing when we take it as a measure. Thus, the Nordic performance is far more indicative of a world gone awry than any particular regional deficiency.
What’s more, a number of leading initiatives in Nordic countries show the potential for them to steer the change, such as The Finnish Action Plan for an Economy of Wellbeing, Denmark’s Green Accounting and Iceland’s quality of life framework among others. Given their exceptional social performance, if the Nordics can use their innovation capacity to design and implement innovative ways of delivering sustainable and inclusive wellbeing, they can act as a vanguard for global transformation. Their favourable social conditions mean they are very well placed to do so, and we encourage them to work together to turn this potential into reality.