Many generalised opinions and flawed studies have been published in mainstream media and social networks about which countries have successfully tackled the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, with little or no scientific evidence. Thus, we design and publish the BMC' Overall Covid Performance Index OCPI, which aims to highlight the performance of the fight against the pandemic and its impacts across countries. The BMC' OCPI is based on six indicators related to the COVID-19 pandemic and seven economic variables, all publicly available. The case study includes twenty-seven European countries. Luxembourg occupies the first place in the overall ranking, closely followed by Denmark, itself ahead of Norway. Finland and Ireland rank first in the Health and Economy sub-indices, respectively. The study shows that small and wealthy countries are performing better than others. In addition, the richest and wealthiest countries are struggling and lagged at the bottom of the rankings.

1. BMC’ Overall Covid
Performance Index: A
case study for
European countries
Many generalised opinions and flawed studies have been published in
mainstream media and social networks about which countries have
successfully tackled the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, with little or no scientific
evidence.
Thus, we design and publish the BMC' Overall Covid Performance Index
OCPI, which aims to highlight the performance of the fight against the
pandemic and its impacts across countries.
The BMC' OCPI is based on six indicators related to the COVID-19
pandemic and seven economic variables, all publicly available.
The case study includes twenty-seven European countries.
Luxembourg occupies the first place in the overall ranking, closely
followed by Denmark, itself ahead of Norway. Finland and Ireland rank
first in the Health and Economy sub-indices, respectively.
The study shows that small and wealthy countries are performing
better than others. In addition, the richest and wealthiest countries are
struggling and lagged at the bottom of the rankings:
Only six (46%) among the 13 wealthiest countries (as per GDP per
capita) are doing relatively well overall.
Only four (31%) among the 13 richest countries (as per GDP) are
doing relatively well overall.
The performance trophy, in this study, was awarded to Cyprus - a small
but not rich country - which was the surprise of the overall ranking (7th
out of 27).
M. Bouanane – Consulting
Director | February 2021

2. BMC’ Overall Covid Performance Index
M. Bouanane 2 / 7
Many generalised opinions and flawed studies have been published in mainstream media and social
networks about which countries have successfully tackled the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, with little or no
scientific evidence.
Thus, we design and publish the BMC' Overall Covid Performance Index OCPI, which aims to highlight the
performance of the fight against the pandemic and its impacts across countries.
Methodology
To assess the relative effectiveness of the policies implemented by different countries, the BMC' OCPI was
built based on six indicators related to the COVID-19 pandemic and publicly available.
The selection of indicators-variables is based on the relevance, comparability, and consistency across
countries. Unlike other published indexes, we do not use the ranking (an average of the rankings across the
selected indicators) across countries as a normalization method. Indeed, such method is too simplistic and
does not enable to evaluate the difference between performances across countries in absolute terms due
to the loss of information. In addition, mixing absolute - aggregate values and ratios per capita within the
index does not plead for the coherence and quality of the result.
We only used ratio values – per capita terms – of the following indicators related to Covid-19:
New cases Daily number of newly infected patients (per million population)
Total deaths Cumulative number of patients who died with a Covid-19 diagnosis (per million
population)
New deaths Daily number of patients who died with a Covid-19 diagnosis (per million
population)
ICU patients Daily number of patients currently in intensive care unit (ICU) with a Covid-19
diagnosis (per million population)
Hosp patients Daily number of patients currently hospitalized with a Covid-19 diagnosis (per
million population)
Total vaccinations Cumulative number of vaccinations (per hundred population)
For daily indicators, we have used seven-days average to smooth the figures.
We estimate that it is not enough to track indicators only related to the pandemic. It is therefore necessary
to assess the economic consequences of the health situation in order to better assess the overall
performance in terms of the effectiveness of public policies. Thus, we have selected five other economic
and social indicators, as follows:
Gross domestic product growth
Deficit / surplus as percentage of GDP
Inflation annual rate
Government consolidated debt as %GDP
Government consolidated debt change (compared to previous year 2019)
Unemployment rate
Total employment change (compared to previous year 2019)

3. BMC’ Overall Covid Performance Index
M. Bouanane 3 / 7
Normalization, Weighting and Aggregation
Only countries with no more than two missing data per pillar are included in the BMC’ OPCI, and missing
values are not considered in the computation of scores.
The indicators’ values are normalized to transform the values of each data into the same unit of
measurement and make them comparable for data aggregation. The BMC’ OPCI follows the Min-Max
normalization method so that all values fall into the [0; 1] range, with higher scores representing better
outcomes and lower scores imply worse outcomes.
We build a sub-index for each pillar – health and economy. Weighting, indicators and sub-indices, reflects
the level of variability of the scores across countries. The lower the dispersion of the scores, the higher the
weight. Each sub-index is then calculated as an arithmetic mean of the weighted normalised indicators’
values.
The aggregation of the sub-indices develops a composite index using a geometric method, i.e., the
multiplication of weighted sub-indices’ scores1
.
Case Study for European Countries
Twenty-seven European countries have been selected for the case study based on their data availability for
both dimensions – Health and Economy. The study uses publicly available data for both dimensions –
Health2
and Economy3
.
The GDP growth, inflation and unemployment data are reported for the whole 2020 year. While the other
economic variables are only available for the first nine months of 2020, as per 4th of February.
For this study, we define the Richest country as per the Gross domestic product, the Wealthiest as per the
GDP per capita and the smallest as per its population relatively to the median value for each variable.
Health Pillar
The Top-6 ranking of the Health sub-index (Table #1) is composed of countries among the smallest and
wealthiest. Except for Greece, which is neither small nor wealthy, and Cyprus, ranked 5th, which is not
among the wealthiest countries in the list.
Finland, Norway, and Greece respectively form the super-performers trio.
Economy Pillar
Again, the Top-6 ranking of the Economy pillar (Table #2) is composed of countries among the smallest and
wealthiest in the list. Except for Netherlands (5th) and Sweden (6th), that are not among the smallest
countries, and Bulgaria (4th) which is not among the wealthiest countries in the list.
Ireland, Luxembourg, and Denmark respectively form the super-performers trio.
1
For more details on building composite index, refer to the BMC_DEISI index.
2
Our World in Data series (as per 4th February), by the University of Oxford and the non-for-profit Global Change Data
Lab.
3
Eurostat (for economic and population data - 2020) and United Nations (for missing population data - 2019).

4. BMC’ Overall Covid Performance Index
M. Bouanane 4 / 7
Overall Ranking
Luxembourg occupies the first place in the overall ranking, closely followed by Denmark, itself ahead of
Norway.
The BMC' OCPI shows that the smallest and wealthiest countries are the best performers in the list of
selected countries and occupy the Top-7 ranking. Except for the Netherlands, ranked 6th, which is not
among the smallest countries and Cyprus, ranked 7th, which is not among the wealthiest countries in the
list.
Conclusion
The BMC’ OCPI shows the relative performance and efficacy of the selected countries. It helps drawing out
the following results.
Small and wealthy countries are performing better than others. In addition, the richest and wealthiest
countries are struggling and lagged at the bottom of the rankings.
Only six (46%) among the 13 wealthiest countries (as per GDP per capita) are doing relatively well overall:
Seven countries over the 13 wealthiest (61%) countries are not ranked in the Economic’ Top-7;
Nine countries over the 13 wealthiest (69%) countries are not ranked in the Health’ Top-7;
Seven countries over the 13 wealthiest (54%) countries are not ranked in the Overall Top-7.
Only four (31%) among the 13 richest countries (as per GDP) are doing relatively well overall:
Eight countries over the 13 wealthiest (54%) countries are not ranked in the Economic’ Top-7;
Eleven countries over the 13 wealthiest (85%) countries are not ranked in the Health’ Top-7;
Nine countries over the 13 wealthiest (69%) countries are not ranked in the Overall Top-7.
The performance trophy, in this study, was awarded to Cyprus - a small but not rich country - which was
the surprise of the overall ranking (7th out of 27).
The BMC’ OPCI index may be enriched by integrating other economic indicators such as the health
expenditure per capita and as percentage of the GDP, to better assess the cost-effectiveness of the health
system, while facing a pandemic crisis.

5. BMC’ Overall Covid Performance Index – Case Study for European Countries
M. Bouanane 5 / 7
Country
Health
Rank
Health
Score
New_cases_
per_million
To-
tal_deaths_
per_million
New_deaths
_per_million
Icu_pa-
tients_per_
million
Hosp_pa-
tients_per_
million
Total_vac-
cina-
tions_per_h
undred
Finland 1 0,925 0,997 0,991 1,000 1,000 0,997 0,127
Norway 2 0,905 0,986 1,000 0,998 N/A 1,000 0,111
Greece 3 0,815 1,000 0,738 0,909 N/A N/A 0,132
Denmark 4 0,802 0,921 0,857 0,778 0,814 0,821 0,330
Cyprus 5 0,765 0,878 0,939 0,928 0,605 0,670 0,160
Luxembourg 6 0,752 0,874 0,525 0,931 0,804 0,836 0,099
Malta 7 0,728 0,739 0,723 0,840 N/A N/A 0,415
Austria 8 0,695 0,890 0,573 0,769 0,667 0,739 0,117
Netherlands 9 0,679 0,774 0,589 0,810 0,635 0,874 0,048
Romania 10 0,676 0,929 0,513 0,829 0,489 N/A 0,194
Estonia 11 0,675 0,699 0,892 0,761 0,694 0,514 0,158
Belgium 12 0,638 0,882 0,000 0,823 0,741 0,760 0,165
Germany 13 0,628 0,896 0,691 0,576 0,454 N/A 0,183
Sweden 14 0,623 0,754 0,373 0,722 0,716 0,665 0,150
Poland 15 0,622 0,910 0,507 0,657 N/A 0,372 0,149
Hungary 16 0,605 0,942 0,327 0,573 N/A N/A 0,124
Bulgaria 17 0,589 0,988 0,309 0,689 0,582 0,280 0,000
France 18 0,575 0,768 0,397 0,732 0,591 0,375 0,110
Italy 19 0,569 0,865 0,224 0,648 0,628 0,358 0,198
Ireland 20 0,562 0,667 0,704 0,513 0,600 0,376 0,252
Latvia 21 0,503 0,688 0,711 0,533 N/A 0,043 0,065
Lithuania 22 0,470 0,722 0,496 0,481 N/A 0,000 0,212
Spain 23 0,427 0,411 0,369 0,766 0,332 0,240 0,181
United Kingdom 24 0,382 0,578 0,205 0,124 0,435 0,092 1,000
Slovenia 25 0,294 0,519 0,104 0,419 0,120 0,093 0,257
Czechia 26 0,249 0,477 0,211 0,350 0,000 0,049 0,151
Portugal 27 0,166 0,000 0,469 0,000 0,348 0,140 0,190

6. BMC’ Overall Covid Performance Index – Case Study for European Countries
M. Bouanane 6 / 7
Country
Economy
Rank
Economy
Score
GDP growth
Deficit / Sur-
plus as
%GDP
Inflation An-
nual Rate
Gov. consol-
idated debt
as %GDP
Gov. consol-
idated debt
Change
Unemploy-
ment
Total em-
ployment
change
Ireland 1 0,817 1,000 N/A 0,841 0,738 1,000 0,750 0,481
Luxembourg 2 0,790 0,642 0,767 0,746 0,950 0,737 0,694 1,000
Denmark 3 0,754 0,504 1,000 0,676 0,866 0,790 0,782 0,541
Bulgaria 4 0,742 0,508 0,874 0,498 0,960 0,863 0,813 0,449
Netherlands 5 0,739 0,496 0,748 0,515 0,783 0,892 0,905 0,573
Sweden 6 0,728 0,570 0,883 0,612 0,876 0,921 0,584 0,443
Germany 7 0,726 0,402 0,782 0,673 0,710 0,864 0,880 0,530
Norway 8 0,707 0,676 N/A 0,512 0,853 0,770 0,846 0,454
Czechia 9 0,698 0,360 0,791 0,078 0,876 0,791 1,000 N/A
Latvia 10 0,689 0,492 0,770 0,727 0,850 0,837 0,598 0,362
Cyprus 11 0,689 0,419 N/A 0,968 0,462 0,861 0,615 0,649
Finland 12 0,678 0,529 0,782 0,664 0,707 0,835 0,620 0,438
Slovenia 13 0,673 0,322 0,475 0,797 0,658 0,823 0,829 0,541
Portugal 14 0,662 0,197 0,727 0,771 0,372 0,917 0,685 N/A
Lithuania 15 0,660 0,688 0,644 0,525 0,859 0,778 0,527 0,486
Poland 16 0,649 0,593 0,420 0,000 0,785 0,830 0,955 N/A
Malta 17 0,648 0,186 0,242 0,583 0,805 0,822 0,875 N/A
Belgium 18 0,632 0,301 0,374 0,659 0,459 0,865 0,781 0,670
Hungary 19 0,614 0,398 0,656 0,059 0,687 0,916 0,875 0,281
Austria 20 0,608 0,255 0,479 0,461 0,641 0,856 0,796 0,389
Romania 21 0,587 0,464 0,310 0,268 0,857 0,741 0,823 0,351
France 22 0,586 0,187 0,509 0,636 0,457 0,825 0,598 N/A
United Kingdom 23 0,566 0,027 0,000 0,568 0,551 0,823 0,888 0,643
Italy 24 0,543 0,150 N/A 0,776 0,249 0,871 0,548 0,319
Estonia 25 0,537 0,602 0,745 0,871 1,000 0,000 0,670 0,292
Greece 26 0,476 0,177 N/A 1,000 0,000 0,926 0,000 N/A
Spain 27 0,405 0,000 0,224 0,814 0,473 0,841 0,055 0,000

7. BMC’ Overall Covid Performance Index – Case Study for European Countries
M. Bouanane 7 / 7
Country
Overall
Rank
Overall
Score
Health
Rank
Health
Score
New_cases_
smoothed_p
er_million
Total_death
s_per_millio
n
New_deaths
_smoothed_
per_million
Icu_patients
_smoothed_
per_million
Hosp_patien
ts_smoothe
d_per_millio
n
Total_vaccin
ations_per_
hundred
Economy
Rank
Economy
Score
Gross
domestic
product
Growth 2020
Deficit /
surplus as
%GDP 2020-
9m
Inflation
Annual Rate
2020
Gov.
consolidated
debt as
%GDP 2020-
9m
Gov.
consolidated
debt Change
2020-9m
Unemploym
ent 2020
Total
employment
change 2020-
9m
Luxembourg 1 0,778 6 0,752 0,874 0,525 0,931 0,804 0,836 0,099 2 0,790 0,642 0,767 0,746 0,950 0,737 0,694 1,000
Denmark 2 0,769 4 0,802 0,921 0,857 0,778 0,814 0,821 0,330 3 0,754 0,504 1,000 0,676 0,866 0,790 0,782 0,541
Norway 3 0,765 2 0,905 0,986 1,000 0,998 N/A 1,000 0,111 8 0,707 0,676 N/A 0,512 0,853 0,770 0,846 0,454
Finland 4 0,749 1 0,925 0,997 0,991 1,000 1,000 0,997 0,127 12 0,678 0,529 0,782 0,664 0,707 0,835 0,620 0,438
Ireland 5 0,725 20 0,562 0,667 0,704 0,513 0,600 0,376 0,252 1 0,817 1,000 N/A 0,841 0,738 1,000 0,750 0,481
Netherlands 6 0,719 9 0,679 0,774 0,589 0,810 0,635 0,874 0,048 5 0,739 0,496 0,748 0,515 0,783 0,892 0,905 0,573
Cyprus 7 0,712 5 0,765 0,878 0,939 0,928 0,605 0,670 0,160 11 0,689 0,419 N/A 0,968 0,462 0,861 0,615 0,649
Germany 8 0,693 13 0,628 0,896 0,691 0,576 0,454 N/A 0,183 7 0,726 0,402 0,782 0,673 0,710 0,864 0,880 0,530
Sweden 9 0,693 14 0,623 0,754 0,373 0,722 0,716 0,665 0,150 6 0,728 0,570 0,883 0,612 0,876 0,921 0,584 0,443
Bulgaria 10 0,690 17 0,589 0,988 0,309 0,689 0,582 0,280 0,000 4 0,742 0,508 0,874 0,498 0,960 0,863 0,813 0,449
Malta 11 0,672 7 0,728 0,739 0,723 0,840 N/A N/A 0,415 17 0,648 0,186 0,242 0,583 0,805 0,822 0,875 N/A
Poland 12 0,640 15 0,622 0,910 0,507 0,657 N/A 0,372 0,149 16 0,649 0,593 0,420 0,000 0,785 0,830 0,955 N/A
Austria 13 0,634 8 0,695 0,890 0,573 0,769 0,667 0,739 0,117 20 0,608 0,255 0,479 0,461 0,641 0,856 0,796 0,389
Belgium 14 0,634 12 0,638 0,882 0,000 0,823 0,741 0,760 0,165 18 0,632 0,301 0,374 0,659 0,459 0,865 0,781 0,670
Latvia 15 0,623 21 0,503 0,688 0,711 0,533 N/A 0,043 0,065 10 0,689 0,492 0,770 0,727 0,850 0,837 0,598 0,362
Romania 16 0,614 10 0,676 0,929 0,513 0,829 0,489 N/A 0,194 21 0,587 0,464 0,310 0,268 0,857 0,741 0,823 0,351
Hungary 17 0,611 16 0,605 0,942 0,327 0,573 N/A N/A 0,124 19 0,614 0,398 0,656 0,059 0,687 0,916 0,875 0,281
Lithuania 18 0,592 22 0,470 0,722 0,496 0,481 N/A 0,000 0,212 15 0,660 0,688 0,644 0,525 0,859 0,778 0,527 0,486
France 19 0,582 18 0,575 0,768 0,397 0,732 0,591 0,375 0,110 22 0,586 0,187 0,509 0,636 0,457 0,825 0,598 N/A
Estonia 20 0,578 11 0,675 0,699 0,892 0,761 0,694 0,514 0,158 25 0,537 0,602 0,745 0,871 1,000 0,000 0,670 0,292
Greece 21 0,566 3 0,815 1,000 0,738 0,909 N/A N/A 0,132 26 0,476 0,177 N/A 1,000 0,000 0,926 0,000 N/A
Italy 22 0,551 19 0,569 0,865 0,224 0,648 0,628 0,358 0,198 24 0,543 0,150 N/A 0,776 0,249 0,871 0,548 0,319
Slovenia 23 0,516 25 0,294 0,519 0,104 0,419 0,120 0,093 0,257 13 0,673 0,322 0,475 0,797 0,658 0,823 0,829 0,541
Czechia 24 0,502 26 0,249 0,477 0,211 0,350 0,000 0,049 0,151 9 0,698 0,360 0,791 0,078 0,876 0,791 1,000 N/A
United Kingdom 25 0,499 24 0,382 0,578 0,205 0,124 0,435 0,092 1,000 23 0,566 0,027 0,000 0,568 0,551 0,823 0,888 0,643
Portugal 26 0,425 27 0,166 0,000 0,469 0,000 0,348 0,140 0,190 14 0,662 0,197 0,727 0,771 0,372 0,917 0,685 N/A
Spain 27 0,412 23 0,427 0,411 0,369 0,766 0,332 0,240 0,181 27 0,405 0,000 0,224 0,814 0,473 0,841 0,055 0,000