The 10 most prosperous countries in the world and some surprise exclusions - in pictures Six years ago researchers at the Legatum Institute, a London think tank, set out to rank the happiest countries in the world. To avoid the touchy-feely connotation of the word "happy," they use the term "prosperity." On Tuesday Legatum published its 2012 Prosperity Index, which ranks 142 countries - covering 96pc of the world's population and 99pc of global GDP. Each nation was evaluated according to 89 variables sorted into eight subsections: economy, entrepreneurship, governance, education, health, safety, personal freedom and social capital. The UK ranked 13th. Here are the top ten, along with their rankings in each category, as well as a few countries you may have expected to make the cut but didn't - including the UK: