The improvements in employment rate, informal sector wages, industrial density and banking density have contributed towards the enhancement of the Economy and Business Climate sub-index. With regard to the sub index of the Well-being of the People, high performance in availability of healthcare facilities, availability and quality of education, wealth of people and availability & usage of entertainment facilities were the key drivers. The reduction observed in the Socio-Economic Infrastructure sub-index was led by reduced levels of pipe borne water quality, female participation in civic activities and available transport facilities. However, the aspects of road coverage, availability of electricity, crime free environment and availability of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities in schools have shown improvements within the Socio-Economic Infrastructure sub-index, it says.
The Western province remained at the leading position recording the highest value of 1.272, for the overall prosperity index, with an increase of 0.029 index points compared to 2015. In comparison to the other provinces, the high performance of the Western province was driven by maintenance of higher standards in all three sub-indices. Except for the Sabaragamuwa province, all other provinces recorded higher overall prosperity index values during 2016 compared to the previous year. The overall prosperity index of the Sabaragamuwa province has declined due to the moderation in the Socio-Economic Infrastructure sub-index, partly driven by the impact of the 2016 floods on water quality and other socio-economic variables. The Eastern province, although remained at the same level in the provincial ranking in 2016, recorded an increase of 0.072 index points in the overall prosperity index with enhancements in all three sub-indices. The highest increase of 0.082 index points in the overall prosperity index was recorded from the North Western province. The provincial rankings of the nine provinces in terms of the overall prosperity, remained unchanged from 2015 to 2016.
The performance of the Economy and Business Climate sub-index improved across six provinces except for the Central, Northern and Southern provinces. The improvement was mainly due to low unemployment, increase in formal sector employment, high standards recorded in informal sector wages, industrial density and banking density. In terms of provincial ranking, the Western province retained its foremost position followed by the North Central and North Western provinces. Higher standards observed in the aspects of per capita income, informal sector wages, low unemployment, formal sector employment, banking density and industrial density are among the main drivers of the high performance of the Western province. The provincial rankings of Eastern, North Western and Southern provinces have improved while those of North Central and Uva provinces remained unchanged.
The Well-being of the People sub index values have increased in all nine provinces in 2016 with significant improvements in the Central, Northern, Southern and Uva provinces, predominantly due to higher performance recorded in the aspects of availability of health care facilities, quality & availability of education facilities, wealth of people and air quality compared to 2015. The Western province, retained the leading position in the Well-being of the People sub-index, primarily because of the positive impact from areas of quality of available education facilities, wealth of people and availability & usage of entertainment facilities. Except for the North Central and North Western provinces, the provincial rankings of all the other provinces remained unchanged with respect to the previous year.
Provincial values of the Socio-Economic Infrastructure sub-index have increased in the Central, Eastern, North Western and Western provinces mainly due to the improvements in the availability of electricity, transport and ICT facilities. The Socio-Economic Infrastructure sub-index of the Sabaragamuwa province has declined substantially in 2016, predominantly due to moderate levels of performance in pipe borne water quality and female participation in civic activities compared to 2015. The Western province retained its highest contribution to the Socio-Economic Infrastructure sub-index among all the provinces. The higher levels in availability of electricity, telecommunication facilities, road coverage, transport facilities, ICT facilities and female participation in civic activities contributed to the leading performance in the Western province. The Eastern, North Western and Southern provinces have improved their positions in provincial rankings in the Socio-Economic Infrastructure sub-index while those of Sabaragamuwa and Uva provinces have declined.
