# Best country in the world to live



## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

Best country in the world to live? Still Norway, according to the U.N.

Human Development Index top 20
1. Norway

2. Australia

3. Switzerland

4. Denmark

5. Netherlands

6. Germany

6. Ireland

8. United States

9. Canada

9. New Zealand

11. Singapore

12. Hong Kong, China (SAR)

13. Liechtenstein

14. Sweden

14. United Kingdom

16. Iceland

17. South Korea

18. Israel

19. Luxembourg

20. Japan

Surprisingly Singapore #11 and Israel #18 higher than Luxembourg, France, Belgium etc


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## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

what? we lost first place? when'd that happen? oh, ofc, there was that almost 10 years of harper gov't


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## none (Jan 15, 2013)

And how do tax rates fit in with that list????

Oh right.... taxes aren't ALL bad.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

i am surprised japan isn't higher
i wonder why norway is so high up and sweden so much lower since they are neighbors
is it the north sea oil money ?


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

mrPPincer said:


> what? we lost first place? when'd that happen?


because Canada accepts too many refugees (even during Harper era) ... in 4 years I wouldn't be surprised to see Canada below Israel


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

> i wonder why norway is so high up and sweden so much lower since they are neighbors


 so what that they are neighbors... compare when stands Ukraine and where all it's neigbours


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## tygrus (Mar 13, 2012)

That list is totally bogus. Imagine if all of canada's population and development was concentrated into one geographic area like Vancouver island. Thats about the size of 17 of those countries on that list. Of course you can build a boffo society when your servicing costs are a fraction of what they are covering a huge land mass like ours.

As for the US, they have more than 10 times our population and Australia only developed their eastern coast, the middle interior is a no go zone. Our middle interior is where all our resource wealth is so we had to develop it. 

Also remember that Canada serviced those European countries like most colonies did for a hundred years. And we had two masters, england and france. Early resources were literally loaded on ships for free and sold as luxury goods in paris and london. Not to mention our part in WWI and II. We literally gave free grain to england for years during the war effort and rebuilt those European countries after world war II. We liberated them then rebuilt them so they owe us big time. Most of those countries have been around 500 years longer than we have. 

This is hardly a fair comparison.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

More importantly, the development index is a bit of a questionable metric to begin with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index



> The Human Development Index has been criticized on a number of grounds including alleged ideological biases towards egalitarianism and so-called "Western models of development", failure to include any ecological considerations, lack of consideration of technological development or contributions to the human civilization, focusing exclusively on national performance and ranking, lack of attention to development from a global perspective, measurement error of the underlying statistics, and on the UNDP's changes in formula which can lead to severe misclassification in the categorisation of 'low', 'medium', 'high' or 'very high' human development countries.[27]


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

> We liberated them then rebuilt them so they owe us big time.


 Really?! Did you learn it in high school?! 


> Imagine if all of canada's population and development was concentrated into one geographic area like Vancouver island. Thats about the size of 17 of those countries on that list.


 Where did you learn geography?!



> As for the US, they have more than 10 times our population and Australia only developed their eastern coast, the middle interior is a no go zone. Our middle interior is where all our resource wealth is so we had to develop it.


 and what is your point?! Did you learn logic anywhere?!



> That list is totally bogus.


 very smart conclusion :stupid:


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

> More importantly, the development index is a bit of a questionable metric to begin with:


 Any such metric will be questionable


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

none said:


> And how do tax rates fit in with that list????
> Oh right.... taxes aren't ALL bad.


Especially when others have to pay them.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

fatcat said:


> i am surprised japan isn't higher


Japan is very misunderstood by the Western world.
They have a very high quality of life, low crime, excellent health care system (although under stress, like the rest of G7), and many other advantages.

I haven't read the methodology used by this specific report, but I suspect Japan fell in the ratings due to the post-Fukushima fallout.

Another thing about Japan - the quality of life and satisfaction is great for Japanese, but not so much for outsiders immigrating there.
There have been some Westerners of course that have adopted the culture and lifestyle and are very happy living there as expats.

That said, there is one aspect the above list does not bear out well - the ease of integration of immigrants.
Several of the top 20 countries are *not* welcoming for newcomers.
Immigrants without a cultural affinity or language familiarity find very hard to integrate themselves in some of those countries.

From that perspective, Canada, the USA, New Zealand and Singapore should top the list.
Some of those Nordic countries should be way down on the list.


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## Islenska (May 4, 2011)

Having travelled a fair bit , always feel fortunate to be a Canuck and more so now when you see the mounting negative headlines south of the border.

Guns, guns and nasty demonstrations popping up, a pseudo police state, and Mr Trump trumping, I mean really?

So shovel the snow today and pay your GST, remember Canada is a decent country , give a little back!


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## tygrus (Mar 13, 2012)

gibor said:


> very smart conclusion :


Hey gibor, your cut and paste skills are astounding. 

My points stand...asshat


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

andrewf said:


> More importantly, the development index is a bit of a questionable metric to begin with:
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index
> 
> ...


+1

Any country in the Top 15 is a great place to live. Aside from the bragging rights, it doesn't really matter where exactly we rank.

And it's silly to use these rankings to advance any sort of political agenda. I bet I can place Canada as high as #1 or as low as #20 by tweaking the weights of the various factors in the HDI index.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

GoldStone said:


> Any country in the Top 15 is a great place to live. Aside from the bragging rights, it doesn't really matter where exactly we rank.
> 
> And it's silly to use these rankings to advance any sort of political agenda. I bet I can place Canada as high as #1 or as low as #20 by tweaking the weights of the various factors in the HDI index.



+ 1

a statistician could run canada or any other country right up to the top of the list

let us never forget Bhutan & the Gross National Happiness index though
GNH is a concept that should be more widely considered, je pense

http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/


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## Twixer (Nov 25, 2015)

I would put Switzerland as number one. Only countries which rely on development and efficient management of human capital can provide long-term stability and prosperity. Switzerland is the best in that field. Also very safe place. US and Germany are very good places for young and ambitious people. Great places for education and professional development. 

Norway and Australia are Bum & Bust economies very dependent on resources. Opportunities are very limited in down stage of the cycle. 

I think Spain will come out much stronger from this crisis and will become much better place to live. One of very few EU countries where racist and anti-immigrant parties get no significant voter support. Huge deflationary pressures will force them to be be more productive and efficient. And they have great weather.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

The more we travel the more we appreciate Canada.

If we had to pick another country in which to live it would be Australia. Hands down....at the very top of our list.

Too many Canadians are a bunch of whiners. They do not appreciate what we have.


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