Legatum first began establishing metrics around prosperity in 2006 when we engaged a team of Oxford University professors. Together, we sought to define the pillars that would allow us to understand the overall quality of life for a nation’s people, using an evidence-based approach. Looking beyond economic indicators, we identified metrics that affect wellbeing, such as family relationships, the role of the community and the environment. The report produced from this work was the foundation upon which the Prosperity Index was established.

In 2007, Legatum founded the Institute with an initial remit to specifically focus on authorship of the Index. In subsequent years, the Institute extended its programmes into other areas such as Russian disinformation, refugees, international development and the health of society.

Today, the Legatum Institute currently focuses on the following initiatives:

• The Centre for National Prosperity is an initiative of The Legatum Institute Foundation, a registered charity, and is dedicated to empirical research, data analytics and education on what drives and restrains the prosperity of nations. The Centre’s flagship programme is the Legatum Prosperity Index, the world’s leading index devoted to equipping policymakers with insights, diagnostic tools and a practical understanding on how to enhance the wealth and wellbeing of their country.
• The Centre for Conservative Renewal will make the case for freedom and free markets within a strong, sovereign United Kingdom, through a renewed sense of nationhood and cohesion. The Centre will bring together and revive the two different strands of the Conservative tradition. First, it will stand for freedom and free markets. Second, it will recognise that free markets will only work if people have a genuine sense that they are part of the same community, standing by each other on the fundamental issues. At this time of national change, the Centre will look to revive the conservative philosophical heritage to face the challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow.
• The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship is a bold, new initiative backed by Jordan Peterson, Sir Paul Marshall and Legatum. With its inaugural conference planned for Autumn 2023, ARC has a vision to become a movement of people of goodwill from around the world who are committed to creating a “better story” for all. Working together with a diverse group of thinkers and leaders, ARC will advocate for positive, hope-filled and solutions-oriented responses to life’s most fundamental social, economic, philosophical, and cultural questions.

Some of the prior outcomes of the Institute's work include:

1. The Prosperity Index is featured as a key metric of success by a number of governments and international organisations, including the World Economic Forum and the US Agency for International Development.
2. The Institute’s measure of poverty in the UK was featured as the headline measure of the UN Rapporteur on extreme poverty; has been a central part of a House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee report; is used as the most reliable measure by numerous media outlets and fact check websites; was referenced in the Labour Party 2019 manifesto; and is in the process of being adopted as an official national statistic by the Government.
3. The Institute’s work on Economic Openness has been used by a number of governments around the world as a reference point for priority areas, as well as by leaders in the global business community to argue the case for policies to support free trade and open economies.