9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Give me 30 seconds, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I can give you a list of [br]30 terrifying challenges 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 facing humanity and the planet [br]at this point in history. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And we wouldn't sleep tonight. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There are so many of them, [br]and they seem to be so frightening 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's not really surprising 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that many of us are feeling [br]a little bit disheartened, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and a little bit anxious at the moment. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the way I see it - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There are really only two things 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stopping the world working at the moment 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The first one is the fact that [br]the countries don't collaborate enough. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We know the solutions [br]to most of those challenges. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But we don't implement them[br]because we don't work together. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the second thing [br]that stopping the world working properly 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is the fact that every single [br]one of those challenges 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 has been caused by the behaviour[br]of human beings. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And if we can change that[br]we can change everything. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now those sound like [br]big tasks and they are. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But I'm optimistic. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For the last 10 years, I've been working[br]on projects and plans and policies. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to try and attack those two barriers[br]to making the world work better. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Some of them I tried to encourage[br]countries to implement. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the coolest ones, I keep[br]and I try to do them myself. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I'd like to tell you two of those[br]in the few minutes that I've got today. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The first one is more of an update. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's a project called the Good Country Index,[br]which I launched back in 2014. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I haven't spoken about it for a while,[br]but it has been through 4 different editions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I thought it would be good[br]to give an update. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So the Good Country Index is an attempt[br]to measure what every country on earth 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 gives to the rest of the world 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 outside of its own borders, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a kind of balance sheet[br]for the world if you like. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A lot of people, when I [br]originally launched it said 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not another country index, surely [br]there are enough of those around already. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the interesting thing is that[br]almost all of the others look inwards. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They treat countries as if they were little islands 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 inhabiting their own private oceans. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But surely that doesn't really make sense. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because everything everybody does[br]has an impact on all of us, always. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If one country pollutes the air or water,[br]that's our air and our water. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If they go to war, [br]drags other countries in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the refugees pour out. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There is really nothing you can do any more 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So what the good country [br]index attempts to do 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is to make a start towards [br]helping people to understand 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that this is an interconnected system 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by measuring what each country[br]contributes to the rest of the world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, it's not my opinion which countries[br]rank higher and which ones rank lower. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's formed from a set of 35 [br]large databases, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which mostly come from the UN system. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And what they do is they simply measure[br]the positive and negative effects 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that the countries have. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's always been a tiny bit controversial. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But that's kind of good, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because it helps to start[br]a new kind of argument. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In fact, it works really well 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 within hours of me releasing the first[br]edition of the Good Country Index 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I started receiving thousands of [br]beautiful hate mails from trolls 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all over the world, demanding to know [br]why the country they hate ranks so high. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the country they love ranks so low,[br]and how I cooked up the entire thing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just to produce that specific result[br]and annoy them personally. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And we have conversations about[br]these things and we argue about it, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and at the end I always say the same thing[br]"Look, it's working." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I don't know if I am right. [br]I don't know if you are right. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But in the end, we are discussing[br]the right thing. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We are talking about [br]not how well is your country, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but how much is your country doing.