Social justice is difficult to define, and even harder to quantify. But a recent report commissioned by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) attempts to do just that, as it compares the relative levels of social justice in the OECD countries. And it looks like Canada ranks well above average - we came in ninth place out of 31 countries.
So what do they mean by "social justice"? For the purposes of the report, the term means how much effort the government of each country puts in to help its citizens live freely and inclusively. In a society with strong social justice, the report says, "every individual should be empowered to pursue a self-determined course of life, and to engage in broad social participation".
To figure out how true this is in each of the OECD countries, the study's authors looked at lots of hard data, as well as expert opinions, to reach their conclusions. So how do the rankings shake out? As mentioned above, Canada's in ninth place. Iceland comes first, with Turkey in last place. The U.S., meanwhile, is fifth from the bottom.
Data from the study was turned into this handy infographic by GOOD.is. Check it out below (click for full-size version):