The nation earned a total score of 68.85 out of 100, above the global average of 64.24, according to the index released last week by Washington-based nonprofit Social Progress Imperative. This is also the first edition to include Vietnam.

The report used 50 variables to determine and rank the social development and wellbeing of 163 markets. These variables were divided into 12 sub-categories under three main categories - basic human needs, foundations of wellbeing and opportunity.

Vietnam achieved 82.03 in basic human needs (88th place in the world), 72.31 in foundations of wellbeing (80th) and 52.23 in opportunity (103rd).

Vietnam scored best in the nutrition and basic medical care metric with 89.89 points (98th).

In Southeast Asia, Vietnam trailed Singapore (29th place), Malaysia (48th), Thailand (79th) and Indonesia (84th).

Japan is the Asian country soaring the highest in the index at 13th spot.

The report noted that The Gambia, Ethiopia and Tunisia made the fastest progress over the past decade.

Norway topped the index, followed by Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and Sweden to complete the top five. The bottom five nations are Somalia, Eritrea, Central African Republic, Chad and South Sudan in last place.

The world's two biggest economies, U.S. finished at 28th and China at 100th.

It stated the world is improving but "progress is slow and uneven." The index pointed out that personal rights and inclusiveness in many countries have declined since 2011 while scores in environmental quality and personal safety metric have "stagnated" around the world.