Free Republic

Frankly, I'm surprised the US is ranked as high as it is in this firest ever US News and World Report survey of the best countries in the world. Is it ironic the Germany is #1? When you consider the history of the last century, you have to think so. Canada ranks #2 and Great Britain #3. The survey, conducted by the magazine and the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and global brand consultants BAV Consulting, took into account 24 factors to make their determinations. Washington Post: The new project ranks 60 countries across 24 categories and is based on a survey of more...

Australia has been ranked the world's happiest nation among developed economies for the third year running.Top position went to Australia, because of the overall strength of its economy, in the Better Life Index compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.Sweden, Canada, Norway and Switzerland were also in the top five. The survey ranked more than 30 countries on criteria such as income levels, health, safety and housing."Australia performs exceptionally well in measures of wellbeing, as shown by the fact that it ranks among the top countries in a large number of topics in the Better Life Index," the...

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Norway ranked as world’s #1 country by UN. The United Nations Development Programme – UNDP – is releasing today the Human Development Report – HDR – for the year 2005 . In it the Human Development Index – HDI – ranks the world’s countries. The Human Development Index ranks countries by three variables, GDP per capita, knowledge level (school enrolment and adult literacy) and life expectancy. In the HDI for 2005 the country of Norway is ranked as the #1 country, making this year Norway’s fifth consecutive year on the top. Business magazine Farmann criticizes the report: ”While we appreciate...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Norway, Sweden, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands ranked as the best five countries to live in but Africa's quality of life plummeted because of AIDS (news - web sites), said a U.N. report released on Thursday. The United States was ranked in eighth place, a drop of one position from 2003 in the report that rates not only per-capita income but also educational levels, health care and life expectancy in measuring a nation's well-being. The Human Development Index, prepared by the U.N. Development Program, is issued annually and includes every country for which statistics are available....