Summary: What Are The Best Countries To Live In?


World map of all countries by the inequality-adjusted Human Development Index.


The question “what countries are objectively the best ones to live in?” is relatively easy to answer. Most would agree that such countries, among other things, guard their citizen’s personal safety and allow free expression, provide quality health care, economic prosperity, clean air and water, a good educational and a fair justice system, have minimal government corruption and respects the rule of law, etc.


However,  the question “which country is best for me to live in?” is nearly impossible to answer because it introduces so many subjective factors. For instance, do you prefer a country where your family lives, one where a specific language is spoken, or one that has a certain geography or climate? Do you want to be in the countries most immune from global climate change, one most likely to survive a nuclear war, or one with a low cost of living or minimal taxation? So we can’t say definitely which country is best for any individual.


With the above in mind, let’s look at the data. I’ll look at the ten I’ll rank the rankings themselves as either BAD, FAIR, GOOD, OR EXCELLENT. Then, in the end, I’ll aggregate the data and render some conclusions.


1) The United Nations Human Development Index HDI – FAIR ASSESSMENT



This one considers just three dimensions: 1 health assessed by life expectancy at birth; 2 education measured by mean of years of schooling for adults and expected years of schooling for children entering school; and wealth measured by gross national income per capita. In my view, this is not only a fair assessment since it basically focuses on wealth health and education are in large part determined by wealth. According to the 2018 HDI the top twenty-five countries in order were:


1. Norway 2. Switzerland 3. Australia 4. Ireland 5. Germany

6. Iceland 7. Hong Kong 7. Sweden 9. Singapore 10. Netherlands

11. Denmark 12. Canada 13. USA 14. UK 15. New Zealand

16. Finland 17. Belgium 17.  Liechtenstein 19. Japan 20. Austria

21. Luxembourg  22. Israel 23. South Korea 23. France 25. Slovenia


In response to the claim that the HDI doesn’t take into account inequality of health, education, and wealth, the United Nations introduced: 


2) The UN inequality-adjusted Human Development Index – GOOD ASSESSMENT 



The UN states: “The IHDI combines a country’s average achievements in health, education, and income with how those achievements are distributed among country’s population by “discounting” each dimension’s average value according to its level of inequality.” In my view, the main deficiency of this index is that it only considers the same 3 dimensions as the HDI. Still, it is a better measurement than the HDI. Surely you would prefer a country with little inequality and a strong social safety net to one in which you might be either extraordinarily rich or extraordinarily poor. For more see Rawls’ Theory of Justice.  According to the 2018 IHDI, the top countries in order were:


1. Iceland 2. Japan 2. Norway 4. Switzerland 5. Finland

6. Sweden 7. Australia 7. Germany 9. Denmark 10. Netherlands

11. Ireland 12. Canada. 13. New Zealand 13. Slovenia 15. Check Republic

16. Belgium 17. Austria 17. UK 19. Singapore 20. Luxembourg

21. Hong Kong 22. France 23. Malta 24. Slovakia 24. USA


Another index recently developed in response to deficiencies in the HDI is the


3) The Social Progress Index SPI – EXCELLENT ASSESSMENT


This index is a product of Social Progress Imperative which defines “social progress as the capacity of a society to meet the basic human needs of its citizens, establish the building blocks that allow citizens and communities to enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and create the conditions for all individuals to reach their full potential.”


This is one of the most detailed indexes. Social Progress Imperative evaluated hundreds of possible indicators while developing the Social Progress Index, including engaging researchers at MIT to determine what indicators best differentiated the performance of nations. The index combines three basic dimensions each with four components,


1. Basic human needs – 1nutrition and basic medical care; 2water and sanitation;

3shelter; and 4personal safety. Do people have enough food to eat and are they receiving basic medical care? Can people drink clean water and keep themselves clean without getting sick? Do people have adequate housing and utilities? Do people feel safe?


2. Foundations of well-being – 1access to basic knowledge; 2access to information and communication; 3health and wellness; and 4environmental quality. Do people have access to an educational foundation? Can people freely access ideas and information from anywhere around the world? Do people live long and healthy lives? Is society using its basic resources so that they will be available to future generations?


3. Opportunity – 1personal rights; 2personal freedom and choice; 3inclusiveness; 4access to advanced education. Are people’s rights as individuals protected? Are people free to make their own life choices? Is no one excluded from the opportunity to be a contributing member of society? Do people have access to the world’s most advanced knowledge?


Each component was then measured by between three and five specific outcome indicators. This index offers one of the most comprehensive determinations of the extent to which societies promote the flourishing of its citizens. According to the 2019 index, the top countries in order were:


1. Norway 2. Iceland 3. Switzerland 4. Denmark 5. Finland

6. Japan 7. Netherlands 8. Luxembourg 9. Germany 10. New Zealand

11. Sweden 12. Ireland 13. UK 14. Canada 15. Australia

16. France 17. Belgium 18. South Korea 19. Spain 20. Austria

21. Italy 22. Slovenia 23. Singapore. 24. Portugal 25. USA


4) The Legatum Prosperity IndexEXCELLENT ASSESSMENT 



The Legatum Institute is a London-based think-tank whose index “is a framework that assesses countries on the promotion of their citizens’ flourishing, reflecting both

wealth and wellbeing. It captures the richness of a truly prosperous life, moving beyond traditional macro-economic measurements of a nation’s prosperity, which rely solely on indicators of wealth such as average income per person …” This too is an excellent assessment.


The criteria used are: 1) Economic Quality 2) Business Environment 3) Governance 4) Education 5) Health 6) Safety & Security 7) Personal Freedom 8) Social Capital and 9) Natural Environment. According to the 2018 index, the top countries in order were:


1. Norway 2. New Zealand 3. Finland 4. Switzerland 5. Denmark

6. Sweden 7. UK 8. Canada 9. Netherlands 10. Ireland

11. Iceland 12. Luxembourg 13. Australia 14. Germany 15. Austria

16. Belgium 17. USA 18. Slovenia 19. Malta 20. France

21. Singapore 22. Hong Kong 23. Japan 24. Portugal 25. Spain


5) The Corruption Perceptions Index CPI EXCELLENT ASSESSMENT 



This is an index published annually by Transparency International since 1995 which ranks countries “by their perceived levels of public level corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.”  The CPI generally defines corruption as “the misuse of public power for private benefit”.[2] This is one of the best lists because of its focus on government—if you have a corrupt government it is nearly impossible for citizens to live well. Here are their 2018 rankings:


1. Denmark 2. New Zealand 3. Finland 3. Sweden 3. Switzerland 3. Singapore

7. Norway 8. Netherlands 9. Canada 9. Luxembourg

11. Germany 11. UK 13. Australia 13. Iceland 13. Hong Kong 13. Austria

17. Belgium 18. Ireland 18. Japan 18. Estonia

21. France 22. USA 23. Uruguay 23. UAE 25. Bhutan


6) The Global Peace IndexEXCELLENT ASSESSMENT




(Countries appearing with a deeper shade of green are ranked as more peaceful, countries appearing more red are ranked as most violent.)


Global Peace Index GPI measures and ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their levels of peacefulness. It does so by investigating the extent to which countries are involved in ongoing domestic and international conflicts. It also seeks to evaluate the level of harmony or discord within a nation; ten indicators broadly assess what might be described as safety and security in society.


The assertion is that low crime rates, minimal incidences of terrorist acts and violent demonstrations, harmonious relations with neighboring countries, a stable political scene and a small proportion of the population being internally displaced or refugees can be suggestive of peacefulness. In 2017, 23 indicators, reviewed annually by a panel of experts, were used to establish each country’s peacefulness score.


This is the only assessment that uses factors such as military expenditures, the number of military personnel, nuclear weapons, exports of weapons, etc. This is, in my view, an excellent assessment although it dramatically lowers the ranking of (especially) the USA and Israel. Here are the top countries in their 2019 rankings.


1. Iceland  2. New Zealand 3. Portugal 4. Austria  5. Denmark

6. Canada Sweden 7. Singapore UK 8. Slovenia 9. Japan 10. Switzerland

11. Czechia 12. Ireland 13. Australia 14. Finland 15. Bhutan

16. Malaysia 17. Netherlands USA 18. Belgium 18. Sweden 20. Norway

21. Hungary 22. Germany 23. Slovakia 24.Romania 25. Mauritius


The USA ranks 128th. Israel ranks 146th.


7) The UN World Happiness ReportGOOD ASSESSMENT 




The World Happiness Report is an annual publication of the United Nations which ranks national happiness based on respondent ratings of their own lives, which the report also correlates with various life factors. One reservation I have about the index is that happiness is a very subjective criterion. Here are their 2019 rankings:


1. Finland 2. Norway 3. Denmark 4. Iceland 5. Switzerland

6. Netherlands 7. Canada 8. New Zealand 9. Sweden 10. Australia

11. UK 12. Austria 13. Costa Rica 14. Ireland 15. Germany

16. Belgium 17. Luxembourg 18. USA 19. Israel 20. UAE

21. Check Republic 22. Malta 23. France 24. Mexico 25. Chile



8) The Good Country Index GOOD ASSESSMENT




The Good Country Index is a composite statistic of 35 data points mostly generated by the United Nations. These data points are combined into a common measure which gives an overall ranking, and a ranking in seven categories: 1 Science and Technology 2 Culture 3 International Peace and Security 4 World Order 5 Planet and Climate 6 Prosperity and Equality, and 7Health and Well-being.


The only reason I didn’t rate this as excellent was that one of its authors stated: “The Good Country Index tries to measure how much each country on earth contributes to the planet and to the human race.” While this may be a fine way to measure how good a country is, some would object that they don’t want to live in a country that makes the world better but that makes their lives better. Here is their 2018 list:


1. Finland 2. Netherlands 3. Ireland 4. Sweden 5. Germany

6. Denmark 7. Switzerland  8. Norway 9. France 10. Spain

11. Canada 12. Bulgaria 13. Belgium 14. Estonia 15. UK

16. Luxembourg 17. New Zealand 18. Austria 19. Italy 20. Australia

21. Latvia 22. Cyprus 23. Singapore  24. Japan 25. North Macedonia


The United States ranks 40th.


9) Where To Be Born Index – FAIR ASSESSMENT




Where to be born index 2013 World map


The Economist Intelligence Unit’s where-to-be-born index previously called the quality-of-life index attempts to measure which country will provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in the near future. It is based on a method linking the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys to the objective determinants of quality of life. The main problem I have with this index is that it hasn’t updated since 2013. It also contains a few outliers compared to other lists making it somewhat suspect.


1. Switzerland 2. Australia 3. Norway 4. Sweden 5. Denmark

6. Singapore 7. New Zealand 8. Netherlands 9. Canada 10. Hong Kong

11. Finland 12. Ireland 13. Austria 14. Taiwan 15. Belgium

16. Germany 17. USA 18. UAE 19. South Korea 20. Israel

21. Italy 22. Kuwait 23. Chile 24. Cyprus 25. Japan



10) OECD Better Life Index – FAIR BUT INCOMPLETE ASSESSMENT 


This index was developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The recommendations made by this Commission sought to address concerns that standard macroeconomic statistics like GDP failed to give a true account of people’s current and future well-being.


One problem with this index is that it doesn’t include such dimensions as free speech, poverty, economic inequality, access to health insurance, and pollution. The other issue is that it only covers 40 countries. While this has little effect on the top 15 or so countries—who would probably have been ranked there regardless—is that it elevates other countries into the top 40 simply because they were considered. Here are their 2017 rankings:


1. Norway 2. Australia 3. Iceland 4. Canada 5. Denmark

6. Switzerland 7. Netherlands 8. Sweden 9. Finland 10. USA

11. Luxembourg 12. New Zealand 13. Belgium 14. UK 15. Germany

16. Ireland 17. Austria 18. France 19. Spain 20. Slovenia

21. Estonia 22. Check Republic 23. Israel 24. Italy 25. Japan


11) The Human Life Indicator HLI – POOR ASSESSMENT


This indicator also addresses deficiencies in the HDI. For example “The HLI looks at life expectancy at birth but also takes the inequality in longevity into account. If two countries had the same life expectancy, the country with the higher rate of infant and child deaths would have a lower HLI. The main deficiency of this index is its “use of the sole health component of human development [longevity] instead of a composite index.” It measures countries on the most narrow criteria of any of the indexes. According to their methodology, the top twenty-five countries in 2018 were:


1. Hong Kong 2. Japan 3. Iceland 4. Singapore 5. Spain

6. Italy 7. Switzerland 8. Sweden 9. Norway 10. Australia

11. Israel 12. France 13. Netherlands 14. South Korea 15. Luxembourg

16. Finland 17. Canada 18. Austria 19. Ireland 20. Slovenia

21. New Zealand 22. UK 23. Germany 24. Belgium 25. Denmark


12) US News & World Report Best Countries to Live In POOR ASSESSMENT


This ranking is the worst I have found. Its criteria include suspect categories including:



Adventure: friendly, fun, pleasant climate, scenic, sexy;

Cultural Influence: culturally significant in terms of entertainment, fashionable, happy, has an influential culture, modern, prestigious, trendy

Heritage: culturally accessible, has a rich history, has great food, many cultural attractions

Movers: different, distinctive, dynamic, unique

Power: a leader, economically influential, politically influential, strong international alliances, strong military


Besides the fact that many of these categories are nebulous, some have little to do with the quality of life. And suppose you agree that military power, for example, makes for a good country because it’s supposedly safe from foreign invaders. In fact, you might be less safe because other countries disproportionately target you with nuclear weapons, or you or your family are more likely to die fighting in foreign wars, or all the money spent on your military could have been used to improve health, education, the environment, etc.


But rather than going into detail about the questionable criteria here let me just say that any list that ranks China and Russia as among the best places to live is suspect.


Here are their rankings:


1. Switzerland 2. Japan 3. Canada 4. Germany 5. UK 6. Sweden 7. Australia 8. USA 9. Norway 10. France 11. Netherlands 12. New Zealand 13. Denmark 14. Finland 15. Singapore 16. China 17. Belgium 18. Italy 19. Luxembourg 20. Spain 21. Ireland 22. South Korea 23. UAE 24. Russia 25. Portugal


Conclusion


The above are the most prominent rankings, bringing together many strands of evidence allowing us to draw strong conclusions. And, for the most part, the rankings are relatively consistent. I’ll now aggregate all the excellent, good, and fair rankings.


THE TOP 8 RANKED COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD






Median
Mean


Norway 1, 2, 1, 1, 7, 20, 2, 8, 3  =
2
5


Switzerland 2, 4, 3, 4, 3, 10, 5, 7, 1 =
4
4.3


Denmark 11, 9, 4, 5, 1, 5, 3, 6, 5 =
5
5.4


Finland 16, 5, 5, 3, 3, 14, 1, 1, 11 =
5
6.5


Iceland 6, 1, 2, 11, 13, 1, 4, 36, UR  =
5
9.1


Sweden 7, 6, 11, 6, 3, 18, 9, 4, 4  =
6
7.5


New Zealand 15, 13, 10, 2, 2, 2, 8, 17, 7 =
8
8.4


Netherlands 10, 10, 7, 9, 8, 17, 6, 2, 8 =
8
8.5



THE 9TH THRU 15TH BEST RANKED COUNTRIES





Canada 12, 12, 14, 8, 9, 6, 7, 11, 9  =
9
9.7


Ireland 4, 11, 12, 10, 18, 12, 14, 3, 12 =
11
10


Germany 5, 7, 9, 14, 11, 22, 15, 5, 16 =
11
11.5


Australia 3, 7, 15, 13, 13, 13, 10, 20, 2 =
13
10.6


Austria 20, 17, 20, 15, 13, 4, 12, 18, 13, =
13
14.6


UK 14, 17, 13, 7, 11, 45, 11, 15, 27, 14 =
14
17.4


Luxembourg 21, 20, 8, 12, 9, UR, 17, 16, UR =
16
12.8



THE 16TH THRU 20TH RANKED COUNTRIES


Belgium 17, 16, 17, 16, 17, 18, 16, 13, 15, =                          16                       15.8

Japan 19, 2, 6, 23, 18, 9, 54, 24, 25, 25 =                                19                       22.6

Singapore 9, 19, 23, 21, 3, 34, 23, 6, UR =                              20                       17.2

France 23, 22, 16 20, 21, 60, 23, 9, 26  =                                  22                       24.4

USA 13, 24, 25, 17, 23, 128, 19, 40, 17 =                                  23                       31.6


THE 21ST THRU 30TH RANKED COUNTRIES


Slovenia 25, 14, 21, 18, 36, 8, 51, 33, 32 =                             25                        26.4

Estonia 30, 26, 25, 26, 18, 37, 63, 14, 44 =                             26                        31.4

Czech Republic 27, 15, 24, 27, 38, 11, 21, 32, 28 =             27                        24.6

Spain 26, 37, 17, 25, 41, 32, 36, 10, 29  =                                27                        26.2

South Korea 22, 29, 23, 35, 55, 45, 57, 26, 19 =                   29                        34.5

Portugal 41, 42, 18, 24, 30, 3, 77, 30, 30 =                             30                        32.7

Italy 28, 31, 22, 34, 53, 39, 47, 19, 20 =                                    31                        32.5

Israel 22, 27, 31, 37, 34, 146, 19, 53, 21 =                               31                        41.3

Cyprus 32, 32, 28, 28, 38, 48, 61, 22, 24 =                              32                        30.5

Poland 33, 28, 33, 33, 36, 29, 40, 31, 33  =                             33                        32.8


THE 31ST THRU 40TH RANKED COUNTRIES


UAE 34, 61, 39, 23, 53, 20, 58, 18, 32 =                                     34                         33.8

Costa Rica 63, 60, 34, 31, 48, 33, 13, 34, 30 =                        34                         37.6

Chile 44, 45, 37, 38, 27, 27, 25, 35, 23 =                                   35                         33.4

Slovakia 38, 24, 35, 32, 57, 23, 39, 28, 35 =                            35                         34.5

Lithuania 35, 34, 32, 36, 38, 40, 42, 37, 57 =                          37                         39

Uruguay 55, 50, 41, 30, 23, 34, 31, 49, UR, =                          37.5                     39.1

Hungary 45, 30, 39, 42, 64, 21, 62, 39, 24 =                             39                         40.6

Croatia 46, 35, 38, 41, 60, 28, 75, 36, UR =                               39.5                     44.8

Latvia 41, 33, 36, 40, 41, 35, 53, 21, 48 =                                  40                         38.6

Greece 31, 38, 30, 52, 67, 65, 82, 42, 42 =                                 42                       49.8


OTHER SELECT COUNTRIES RANKED 


Malaysia 57, UR, 46, 44, 61, 16, 80, 42, 38 =                           44                         39.2

Romania, 52, 33, 45, 45, 61, 24, 48, 29, 56 =                           45                         43.6

Bulgaria 51, 44, 43, 47, 77, 26, 97, 12, 61 =                              47                        51.3

Argentina 47, 46, 42, 53, 85, 75, 47, 82, 37 =                            47                       57.1

Belarus, 53, 46, 48, 89, 70, 97, 81, 78, UR =                               74                       58.1

Montenegro 50, 39, 58, 58, 67, 67, 73, 71, UR =                       62.5                    60

Colombia 90, 83, 60, 57, 99, 143, 37, 87, 34 =                           83                      66.6

Russia 49, 40, 62, 96, 138, 154, 68, 41, 72 = 80                          68                      80


Other select countries not rated for lack of data


If you don’t see your country its because either: 1 I couldn’t amass enough data on it. These include Hong Kong and Malta, which scored very high in some categories; as well as Panama and Barbados, which scored fair in some categories; or 2 I assumed my readers wouldn’t be interested in the worst rated countries which are primarily in Africa.


UR = Unranked


Obviously, these rankings are subject to change. For example, if the UK leaves the European Union Brexit, or if the USA continues on its present course undermining democracy and the rule of law their ranking will go down considerably. On the other hand, perhaps Finland’s GDP will increase and fault them to number one or Iceland will become a bigger player on the world stage and move into the top group.


The key is that while the groupings of countries show a clear difference, a single place in the rankings in insignificant.


Further remarks


1. Don’t place that the number 3 country is better than the number 4 country and so on. But you can have some confidence that the very best or excellent countries are, on the whole, better than the very good or good countries. Similarly, the very good or good countries are definitely better than fair or marginal ones.


Moreover, specifically ranking countries—such that we can say definitely that the 5th best is better than the 6th best is better than the 7th best and so on—is difficult. That’s because people disagree on what evaluative criteria should be used to rate countries and on the relative weight given to those criteria.


2. I originally averaged 8 indexes rather than 7 but decided to ignore the OECD ranking because it only covers 40 countries. While this has little effect on the top 20 countries, it elevates other countries into the top 40 where they might otherwise not be. For example,  Russia would have been in the top 40 because they were one of the countries considered. However, when I recalculated there were only slight changes in the rankings and not a single country changed its category.


3. While there may be some island paradise not considered here, I feel relatively confident that most of the countries my readers might consider emigrating too, and many they would never consider emigrated to, have been evaluated.


4. No doubt one can quibble with my methodology. I’m just one guy who spent a lot of time trying to be objective.


5. As one guy with a calculator, feel free to check my math and let me know of any errors.



Final Thoughts/ Food For Thought


The characteristics that the best countries to live in share, among other things, are strong social safety nets, including universal healthcare, respect for political norms especially democracy and the rule of law, and, for the most part, they have few firearms and relatively little religious belief.

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Published on October 06, 2019 02:10
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