The benchmark of a country's progress should not be how materialistic their people have become. This is just a sum of individual behaviours and it is up to the person to adopt or keep away from such an attitude. A fairer yardstick would be the happiness of people living in the country.

Are people allowed to live their life, pursue their goals, grow old, have good health, and participate in social and pension programmes to live comfortably? Are ideas suppressed? Is the government fair and just? Is the privacy of people protected and respected? Are their rights violated? Are there checks and balances in government? Is there freedom of information? Are the laws fair or are they abused often by the authorities?

These questions are important because we all have heard: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Most people are by nature self-serving and self-centred. You can already see it in any workplace, let alone the higher levels of office where abuse of power and corruption are quite the norm.

To a lesser extent, affordable housing, proper infrastructure, proper health services, clean air/water, longer life expectancy, low infant mortality rate, and a stable economy can also be used as the primary yardstick for comparison.

The final test/question: Would you rather be a below-average-income family living in a mostly fair and just country or an above-average-income family living in an unfair and unjust country?