development). Three, combating inequality through policies increasing access to markets, services and social protection is unlikely to be effective in their own: they need to be accompanied by strengthening social cohesion and ensuring fair and legitimate interactions between governments and citizens. Four, more developed and wealthier societies are not automatically more inclusive and resilient societies. Instead, social sustainability interactions are complex and contextual. Experience of conflict, fragility, authoritarian political regimes, and exposure to natural disasters, among other factors, all matter. Countries as diverse as Mongolia (social inclusion), Kyrgyzstan (resilience), Ghana (social cohesion) and Mauritius (process legitimacy) top our table of 130 countries and territories in each of these dimensions of social sustainability.

Finally, our analysis shows that while social sustainability is an elusive and intricate concept, it can be operationalized in a way that captures its complexity—and that this can be done in a relatively simple and parsimonious way, through a manageable set of meaningful indicators, flexibly used. Both our database and correlation analysis are first steps in that direction. They do not provide normative and precise policy designs but underscore that social sustainability not only matters in itself, but potentially as an instrument associated with poverty reduction.

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