Australia lost 0.01 point to Norway in the 'best place to live' index, but does Norway have urban views like this?
The United Nations’ Human Development Index has ranked Australia as the second-best place in the world to live – being beaten by the tiniest margin by Norway, of all places.
The score: Norway 0.94 – Australia 0.93.
The HDI, an independent global development monitor, ranks the wellbeing of the world’s humans by comparing factors such as educational level, life expectancy, and income per capita. Norway nudged ahead on the latter point.
Educationally, the average Aussie spends 12 years studying, compared to a UK average of nine years. And they live an average of 82 years – pretty close to longevity chart-toppers Japan, whose average life expectancy is 83.
Australia is way better than the USA when it comes to income equality and health care – in other words, it doesn’t have America’s desperate underbelly of poverty. Or crime, for that matter.
So Australia shines! Norway nudged ahead by 0.01 points on a slightly higher income level, but when you think about it, all that free and ample sunshine has got to give Australia the edge when it comes to easy living.
The HDI doesn’t measure things like alfresco dining and hitting the beach after work, but we think that if it did, Australia would be way ahead in the most Wonderful Place to Live list. We think it’s officially the happiest place on Earth.
Great Britain, meanwhile, ranks at no.28, some way below the likes of Israel, Iceland, the Czech Republic, Ireland and the USA, all of whom are having a better life than the beleaguered Brits.
And the worst place on Earth to live? The Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa, whose citizens can expect to live just 48 years, of which 3.5 are spent in education… and 60 percent live below the poverty line. Its HDI index ranking is just 0.29.
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3 Responses to “Australia: (almost) the happiest place on Earth!”
Comment by insizer — November 4, 2011 @ 5:03 pm
may be oz could be on first place if sinister ministers like chris Evans are moved to their homeland
Comment by Michael Patek — November 5, 2011 @ 4:35 am
Australia Fails In One Of Its Greatest Responsibilities
To Protect And Promote Its Universal Community And
This Is The Failure of EQUAL HUMAN RIGHTS ! It Is Clear That Human Rights Will Become A Measure For Every Nation !
Comment by Ayden @ Himalayan Salt — November 6, 2011 @ 11:34 pm
On paper they might have just beaten us… but we all still know who number 1 is