Bulgaria lags behind most other countries in terms of social cohesion, according to the Social Cohesion Radar, a study released today by the Bertelsmann Stiftung and Jacobs University in Bremen.

Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland have the highest levels of social cohesion, followed by Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand, according to the study.

The study, which examines 34 countries in the EU and the OECD, also concludes that Lithuania, Latvia and the southeast European countries of Bulgaria, Greece and Romania suffer from low social cohesion.

Bulgaria is ranked 32nd, followed only by Greece and Romania.

Social cohesion is defined as the special quality how members of a community live and work together. A cohesive society is characterized by resilient social relationships, a positive emotional connectedness between its members and the community and a pronounced focus on the common good.

The report finds that the three most important socio-economic factors associated with social cohesion are national wealth as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), a country's income gap as measured by the Gini coefficient, and its level of development towards a modern information society as measured by the Knowledge Index.

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