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We’re No. 7! Canada scores high in Social Progress Index, well ahead of U.S. and U.K.

Israelis are silhouetted behind a Canadian flag at a rally to thank Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his support of Israel during his visit at the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem January 20, 2014. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS)

Canada comes off pretty well in a new report measuring countries' social progress.

The Social Progress Index, compiled by the U.S.-based Social Progress Imperative, ranks Canada seventh in the world based on 12 categories grouped under basic human needs, foundations of well-being and opportunity.

New Zealand tops the list of 132 countries (up from 50 in the first-ever index issued last year), followed by Switzerland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Canada.

The United States is all the way down in 16th, behind Ireland and ahead of Belgium, while the United Kingdom is 13th, just behind Germany but ahead of Japan.

If you're wondering who's at the bottom of the index, it's Chad.

The Social Progress Imperative says the index provides a strong measurement tool to help countries make choices to advance social progress.

[ Related: Canada among top three best places to live in new quality of life ranking ]

“The Social Progress Index is a complimentary measure to GDP," Michael Green, the group's executive director, told CBC's Lang & O'Leary Exchange.

"It’s a measure that can sit alongside GDP and then we can look at the relationship between economic growth and social progress and understand when is growth good for us and when is growth not so good for us and how can social progress actually help growth."

A breakdown of Canada's scores gives some insight into its overall ranking.

Canada's position was pulled down by its 17th-place ranking for foundations of well-being.

"Canada excels at providing building blocks for people's lives such as Access to Basic Knowledge but would benefit from greater investment in Ecosystem Sustainability," the index's notation says.

We also rank 11th when it comes to basic human needs, with good scores in categories such as nutrition and basic medical care.

But in opportunity Canada places second overall, trailing only New Zealand. The category includes personal rights, freedom and choice, tolerance and inclusion and access to advanced education.

The index's comparison of Canada with countries that have similar GDP per capita shows it's relatively weak in several surprising categories, such as maternal mortality rates, primary school enrolment and access to clean water, as well as biodiversity and habitat sustainability.

[ Related: Montreal’s McGill University no longer Canada’s top-ranked school ]

However, Canada stacks up well in tolerance for immigrants, diverse religions and homosexuals, as well as access to advanced education, where it ranks second behind the United States.

It's ninth overall in personal safety, compared with the gun-crazy United States, which ranks 31st.

Interestingly, Canada ranks ahead of the U.S. in personal freedom, sixth overall, compared with 15th for the Land of the Free.

According to Green, Canada needs to address issues such as obesity and environmental sustainability, problems common to rich and middle-income countries.

"The best thing a poor country can do is grow economically. Social progress shoots up as you grow economically," Green told CBC.

"Once you get to middle-income country status, your new wealth starts to create problems. A big area is environmental sustainability, another is health and wellness — you start developing new health problems like obesity."

A recent Bloomberg survey ranked Canada the second-best place in the world to do business, behind Hong Kong and ahead of the United States, the Financial Post reported.