The Measure of Civilization: How Social Development Decides the Fate of Nations is a history book by the British historian Ian Morris, published in January 2013.

It is the companion volume to Morris's 2010 award-winning book, Why the West Rules—For Now.

The book explains in details the evidence and statistical methods used to construct the social development index in Why the West Rules—For Now.

[1] The index consists of four traits: energy capture per capita, organization, information technology, and war-making capacity.

Using archaeological and historical data to quantify the history of social development, the author measures the eastern and western civilizations across 15,000 years.