Where do the richest and happiest people in the world reside? And where is poverty rife? The Legatum Institute has released its 2018 Prosperity Index, which measures prosperity across eight categories including personal freedom, education, safety, governance, entrepreneurship and healthcare. Here are the 30 most prosperous countries.

Uruguay has dropped two places in the overall rankings to 30th in 2018. Its top performing category is personal freedom, where it comes in eighth, and it has seen improvement in security and safety, moving from 59th to 52nd in a year. Despite the tourist appeal of its beaches and green landscape, the country comes in at 58th for natural environment.

Mauritius has risen three places in the global rankings to 29th, and its economic quality has also seen improvement by nine places. It has seen leaps in social capital moving from 41 to 21 in just a year. Perhaps surprisingly the Indian Ocean Island with its idyllic lagoons and beaches comes in at a middling 46.

Cyrpus has risen one place since 2017 in the overall rankings, and four spots in economic quality. In fact, the country has seen improvement in every area apart from governance which has dropped one place to 34, and education which has remained steady at 46.

Down three places from last year, the Czech Republic's best area is education where it ranks 14th. However, in the area of social capital which considers a country's social norms, the strength of personal relationships and civic participation, Czech Republic comes in at a disappointing 71.

Estonia may be 26th overall, but the northern European country comes in the top 10 for its natural environment and efforts to preserve it, with a ranking of sixth. Its efforts with education have also seen it rise from 14th to 11th in 2018.

Spain has struggled in recent years. Its economy – which is the sixth largest in the EU – is still dealing with the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis, and it had an unemployment rate of 15.28% in the second quarter of 2018. Its overall ranking is up two places from 2017, but economically it lingers outside the top 30 at 49th. On a more positive note, it holds its strongest position for social capital (17th), but can only take 25th spot overall.

Portugal has reached 24 in the rankings, its best performance in a decade, and an improvement of three places on 2017. The area the country really excels in is personal freedom, where it ranks sixth in the world. This means that Portugal is one of the top countries for its consideration of basic legal rights, individual freedoms and social tolerance. However, Portugal is only 42nd for education.

Japan comes in at 23 for the second year in a row. The country is in the top three for health and safety making life in Japan fairly risk-free, however, it falls down when it comes to social capital where it has a rank of 99 and personal freedom where it comes in at a middling 46. These scores may reflect the extreme order of Japanese society and somewhat isolationist approach that Japan has historically had.

Despite performing badly for its natural environment with a low ranking of 86, Hong Kong has still managed to make 22. The territory in southeastern China is in the top 10 for several factors and stands out for its safety with a rank of four, its business environment where it ranks seven, and health where it comes in at nine.

Singapore is in the top five in five categories: economic quality (second), business environment (fifth), education (third), safety and security (third) and comes top for health. The country that transformed from a third world to a first world country in one generation, still comes in at 21 overall due to low scores for personal freedom (98) and its natural environment (90).

France stays at 20 for the second year in a row. The top performing areas for Europe's third biggest economy is health, where it ranks 15th. The French health system combines the private and public sectors to provide universal coverage to all citizens, with the government covering most medical bills.

Malta has risen through the rankings, reaching 19 in 2018, up two places from last year. The World Bank classifies Malta as a high-income country, and its strong economy – bolstered by its convenient strategic position – has helped give it an economic ranking of 15th. Where it remains weakest is in education, where it ranks at 40, and business environment where it comes in at 54.

Slovenia takes 18th place overall, taking the top spot for nature, and an impressive sixth spot for education. It is also regarded as a safe place to live, coming 14th for security. The country has suffered as a result of the European economic crisis, which partially explains its middling economic ranking of 31st.

The US ranks just outside the top 10, mainly due to its safety and security score of 43. It also has a fairly low rank for health coming in at 35. That said it takes the top spot for business environment, as it has done since 2014.

Belgium sits very comfortably in 16th place, having held that spot since 2015. The country's top score is for personal freedom, coming in at 12th place. Disappointingly, since 2017 it has dropped four places for education (13th), but it has seen improvement in safety and security where it has jumped up 14 places, as well as four places for social capital (24th).

Austria has come in 15th place since 2015, and has sat comfortably in the top 20 most prosperous nations for over a decade. It has three categories in the top 10, performing best for health (sixth), security and safety (eighth) and unsurprisingly its beautiful natural environment (ninth). In the past year, disappointingly it has seen several areas drop, including its economic quality which has gone from 16th to 17th, its business environment has dropped to 21st, and education has fallen to 19th.

Germany has hovered around 14th place for a decade. The economy in Germany is strong, coming in at 11th, while its governance score of 10 plays true to the German stereotype of efficiency as it ranks highly in the area for rule of law and government performance.

Australia's top area is social capital, underlining the country's strong social norms, and personal and social relationships. It's economy has also risen one place to 28 since 2017.

Luxembourg has jumped one place overall to 12th since last year. The country has five categories in the top five: economic quality (third), governance (seventh), health (second), personal freedom (fourth), and natural environment (fifth). The country’s workers enjoyed the highest average wages in the world according to OECD.

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Iceland may hold the top spot for economic quality for the second year in a row, but it has slipped two spots in the overall rankings since 2017 to 11th. Since the economic crisis a decade ago Iceland has revived its economy through tourism – visitor numbers have quadrupled – renewable energy, and technology, and the country has the highest employment rate in the world. It ranks lowest for education where it comes in at 31st place

Ireland remains 10th in the global rankings. This is largely thanks to high rankings in safety and security (fifth place overall), personal freedom (fifth) and improvements in its economy, up three spots to 10th. It's lowest score is a still respectable 27 for health, which may be a reflection that only 37% of the population receives free healthcare and many have to turn to private healthcare. Currently 40% of the population opt for private health insurance.

The Netherlands has dropped one place in the global rankings to ninth. However, economically it gained four places, moving from 10th to sixth. The Netherlands' worst performing area was its natural environment when it came in at 49.

Canada has risen three places overall to eighth most prosperous in 2018. Economically it has also gained two places. Canada has seen improvement in every area apart from social capital, where it has dropped eight places. The country takes the top spot overall for personal freedom, meaning that Canada has had the most progress in individual liberties and social tolerance.

Despite the looming spectre of 2016's Brexit vote casting uncertainty over the country's future, the UK still comes in at seventh most prosperous, falling one place after coming in at sixth in 2017. The country still ranks highly for business environment and entrepreneurship coming in 10th place, which reflects the fact it is a global hub for startups. In fact, British tech companies have attracted almost three times more venture capital investment than any other EU country over the past two years.

Sweden has fallen two spots in the overall rankings to secure sixth place. Since 2017, the Scandinavian country has seen improvement in health (seventh), and education (16th), but security and safety has dropped from fifth place to 12th.

The Danes have jumped up two spots to fifth since 2017 with improvements in health (18th), security and safety (ninth), and education (10th). Thanks to Denmark’s foreign trade and high-tech agricultural sector, it sits happily in eighth position in the economy table.

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Switzerland's top category is education, where it comes in second place, although this is also slightly disappointing as for the last five years it's taken the top spot. The country has also shown economic consistency, coming in fourth in the economic rankings for the sixth year in a row.

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Finland has taken the top spot in two categories: governance, and education. It also comes in third for its natural environment. Its lowest category is health, where it has dropped nine places to 25, but the country has seen life expectancy rise.

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New Zealand has been knocked off the top spot, after a four-year reign. However, the country is still in first place for social capital, with  New Zealand coming second in Gallup's Migrant Acceptance Index for tolerance of migrants in 2017. It is also second place in three categories: business environment, governance, and personal freedom.

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Norway has taken the crown for the most prosperous country in the world in 2018 for the first time. It has managed to pip New Zealand to the post even though it has seen drops in the rankings, falling one place for economic quality (seventh), two places for business environment (11th), three places for health (eighth), and two places for natural environment (eighth). However, it has seen dramatic improvement for safety and security, leaping from 17th to take the top spot.

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