Best Place to Live is COLD!
This is interesting, I particularly like the quote from Robert Kenenedy!
From Radio Free Europe
Where’s The Best Place To Live? Prosperity Index Offers A Few Surprises
Believe it or not, this is not the best place in the world to live. You may be surprised at which country ranks at the top of the list.Many people would probably answer that palm trees and a gleaming beach would be a good start to their idea of earthly paradise. But in real life, the country which scores best on a whole range of economic and quality-of-life issues is a good deal colder.
It’s Finland.
That’s what the 2009 Prosperity Index issued by the British-based think tank the Legatum Institute finds.
The Legatum Prosperity Index is now in its third year. Its inspiration stems from a speech that onetime U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy gave in 1968. He said that the economic indicator most used to measure a country’s progress, namely gross domestic product, or GDP, measures everything “except that which makes life worthwhile.”
1. Finland
2. Switzerland
3. Sweden
4. Denmark
5. Norway
6. Australia
7. Canada
8. Netherlands
9. United States
10. New Zealand
With this idea as their guiding light, the academics at the Legatum Institute set out to measure human well-being in an infinitely more complex way. They chose nine headings that seemed to sum up the most important ingredients for happiness.
These include, of course, a country’s economic fundamentals, but also personal freedom, health, education, and a safe and supportive society. In addition, there are broad issues, like quality of governance and of domestic institutions, and whether there is space for entrepreneurship and innovation.
