UN: Norway "is the best place to live".....

[Joe the Liberal]

Norway is the best place in the world to live while Niger is the least desirable, according to an annual report by the United Nations.

The 182 countries were ranked according to the quality of life their citizens experienced.

Criteria examined included life expectancy, literacy rates, school enrolment and country economies.

However the UN human development index used data collected in 2007 - before the global economic crisis.

The UN Development Programme said the index highlighted the grave disparities between rich and poor countries.

Opposites

Norway's consistently high rating for desirable living standards, is, in large part, the result of the discovery of offshore oil and gas deposits in the late 1960s.

Niger, however, is a drought-prone country which has sometimes struggled to feed its people.

Other countries to reach the top spots were Australia and Iceland.

However, living standards in Iceland have changed since the data was collected, as it was one of the countries worst hit by the credit crunch.

The 2008 crisis exposed the Icelandic economy's dependence on the banking sector, leaving it particularly vulnerable to collapse. The country's three major banks were nationalised and Iceland had to seek international support in order to stay afloat.

UN deputy director Eva Jespersen told the BBC News website that although the country's now-reduced gross domestic product figure would "pull Iceland down" next year, its high life expectancy rates and commitment to education would "cushion the decline to some degree".

Afghanistan was regarded the second least desirable place to live, just below Sierra Leone in third from bottom place.....(more)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8290550.stm

[TexasObserver]

1. Oh, bullshit! Everyone knows it's Finland.

[Sisaruus]

16. I'm going to Finland again on Thursday.

I wouldn't mind living there. Maybe I will when I retire.

[TexasObserver]

19. It's a great country.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. I love ice. I Iove depression.

:woohoo:

[ccharles000]

3. The good ol us of a is 13

[Joe the Liberal]

7. Nonsense......

You and I both know that the US is #1 at EVERYTHING, don't believe the UN, they are just a bunch of America hating commies.....

WE'RE NUMBER 1! WE'RE NUMBER 1!...C'mon say it with me...WE'RE NUMBER 1! WE"RE NUMBER 1! :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[depakid]

4. It must pain the Brtis to know that- with the next round of post-meltdown data

Australia will be #1.

Oh well, in consolation- they did win The Ashes back.

[FreeState]

5. I lived in Norway for a few years and agree :) n/t

[CJCRANE]

6. "The Norwegian economy is an example of a mixed economy

featuring a combination of free market activity and large state ownership in certain key sectors."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway#Economy

Sounds suspiciously like democratic socialism to me...

[Joe the Liberal]

10. But, but...but socialism is evul....

Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Bekkk and faux news told me so it MUST be TRUE! :sarcasm:

[Selatius]

11. It's a form of social democracy, not democratic socialism.

For it to be a democratic socialist country, the bulk of the economy would have to be run either through collectively owned labor co-ops or through government-run enterprises. If they set up a public bank to support a huge co-op sector competing next to the private sector, yeah, I'd say they're well on their way to socialism because given the choice between working to enjoy the fruits of one's labor and selling one's labor to a capitalist, I'd think most workers would eventually choose to work in a labor co-op in the long-run.

[Mixopterus]

8. Could it be

because they have stock in the most brutal metal on earth!

That settles it, we need to develop into a Black/Doom metal economy.

[Nederland]

9. Lots of people moving there...

Link: http://mighealth.net/no/index.php/Immigration_statistics_Norway

[Swamp Rat]

12. I lived there and liked it, but it is TOO FUCKING COLD!!! even in the summer.

It is a great place to live or visit for many reasons, provided you don't mind freezing temps at night during the summer, and unbalanced day/night hours... and I'm just talking about down south near Oslo, and no further north than Telemark.

[Libertas1776]

13. I am sure

the US would be a lot more manageable, and thus vying for numero uno if its population was also roughly a little more than half that of New York City like Norway is. Obviously, that is never gonna happen.

[Mixopterus]

14. However

The United States also has access to a resource base that is several orders of magnitude greater than Norway.

[Enrique]

17. #13 ain't bad

even the awesome U.S.A. can't be #1 on every list.

[LeftishBrit]

15. I've been there a couple of times, and thought it was a great place!

[Cali_Democrat]

18. Too cold for my taste

But it is a beautiful country.