Norway has knocked Sweden off the pedestal as the world’s most socially progressive country, besting its Nordic neighbour in the Social Progress Index 2015 largely because of Norwegians’ superior “access to information and communications”.

The index, conceived at the World Economic Forum’s Philanthropy and Social Investing council in 2009 as an alternative to Gross Domestic Product, was topped by New Zealand in 2014, although Sweden would have come top if the same criteria had been used as in 2015.

Norway's edge this year came from taking top ranking in ‘the Foundations of Wellbeing’ category. It lagged in ninth place in both the "Basic Human Needs' and 'Opportunity' categories, however.

Sweden was more balanced across the three categories, coming third in ‘Foundations of Wellbeing’, eighth in Basic Human Needs, and fifth in the Opportunity category.

The index, developed by the Social Progress Imperative, a US non-profit group, gauges factors such as healthcare, education, safety, personal freedoms and access to food, water and shelter to assess what makes a country a good place to live in.

Released on Thursday, the Social Progress Index 2015 aims to give a different assessment of the wealth of the 133 countries surveyed than simple Gross Domestic Product.

Third place in the 2015 index taken by Switzerland, followed by Iceland, New Zealand, Canada, Finland, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Australia.

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Photo: Lena Granefelt/ Image Bank Sweden