Neil_Oz

As reported in the Sydney Sun-Herald of 28/5/05, this year Norway will again top a UN ranking list of the best countries to live, for the fifth consecutive year. Last year Norway was followed by Sweden, Australia and Canada. The ranking is based on an index that combines wealth, education and life expectancy (but not, it would seem, weather).

Patrick

And not if having a car is a concern to you. I just read yesterday that the "new car tax" in Norway is now 100%. In other words a car costs you double.

USNR

If Norway is so good, how come America is so full of ex-Norwegians? Hmmmmm.

moschops

yeah - have been to Norway - in my opinion it is the most boring country i've ever been to - sorry any Norwegian posters - i just wouldn't go back in hurry .

laverendrye

USNR: I doubt that you'll find that many Norwegians have emigrated to the US since North Sea oil was discovered. One of the poorest countries in Europe is now one of the richest.

helsinkiflyer

Norway indeed might appear boring. But thatīs a whole different story. The survey appreciated things such as life expectancy, literacy rate, economic activity. Those things are usually high if a society is well organized and most things are somehow controlled by authorities. At the same time this control and organization leads to what some people feel boring. So, itīs all about choices. But to say that many Norvegians are moving to the US is just wrong. There were people from all around Europe moving to the US in the first part of the 20th century, but not so many after that. One reason is the rise of European economies and another one is changed immigration policy in the US. It is no longer even allowed for Norvegians to move to the US. Overstaying on your tuorist visa doesnīt make any sense as then youīd end up living a lot worse than back home.

sansman

Interesting that Australia is so high, It is quite capitalistic compared to most other countries on the list - minimal state safety net.

Neil_Oz

sansman, I'd say that Australia is somewhere between Scandinavia and the US in that respect, comparable to Canada and New Zealand.

Although our social safety net isn't optimal I wouldn't call it "minimal" - our national income support and health insurance programs are still reasonably effective.

As with weather and car prices, the survey doesn't seem to take boredom into account. Maybe the Norwegians are actually quietly excited people? It would be interesting to compare a survey of overall happiness and satisfaction of the populace - from memory they can throw up results that don't always correlate highly with wealth and security.

sansman

Reminds me of an article I saw somewhere that comparing Finland or Norway to Spain, Spanish were going out at lunch enjoying a nice meal with wine and Finland/norway person was eating leftovers because it was too expensive to go out and eat. Though the income of the Spanish person was much lower than the Finish/Norwegian person. So quality of life can be measured in many different ways.

gard

Hi

Norway has gone from being one of the poorest countries in Europe in the 1800s to one of the richest countries in the world today. I think we can thank the oil for that because today we produce about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day and most of this is exported since the low population of Norway (about 4.5 million people) don't use that much oil...at at 70 US $ per barrel it adds up to quite a lot of money. And the Norwegian gas producation is also quite big...we supply a lot of gas to the European continent. The money is now invested in the Norwegian Petroleum fund and it is now worth about 1200 billion Norwegian kroner (about 170 billion dollars). During the 1800s a lot of people emigrated to the USA...I have read that about 800.000 moved to the States and that is a lot for such a small country.

Norwegian like to complain about everything...yes, our taxes is hig. Yes, it costs a lot to buy a car here and the gas is also expensive. Yes, the weather is not as nice. But the fact is that the majority of Norwegians lead a comfortable life, they have enough money to build nice houses, buy nice cars, go on vacation etc. And UN list confirms that Norway is a pretty good place to live

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com

ira

Hmmmmmmmmm,

WHO lists the suicide rates for 2004.

Men
Norway 18.4/100K
Sweden 18.9
Australia 20.1
Canada 18.4
USA 17.1

Women
Norway 6
Sweden 8.1
Australia 5.3
Canada 5.1
USA 4

gard

I'm not sure I understand your posting ira. Do you feel that the suicide rate is low? Or high? What is the world average?

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com

ira

Hi Gard,

The 4 "best countries in which to live" have higher suicide rates than the US which is ranked down around 28.

I think suicide rate is an indication of a problem.

sansman

My uneducated opinion on this is that suicide rates tend be higher in countries where a thriver mentality no longer exists, once you are fat and taken care of, you have more time to be depressed. I bet the suicide rate in China is relatively low.

RufusTFirefly

It all depends on who is selecting the measurement criteria; which criteria they select; and what weight they give to each criterion. My personal criteria would differ somewhat from the UN's.

For me, the weather in places like Norway, Sweden, most of Canada, Siberia, Alaska, Montana, Maine, Australia, Arizona, etc., would be such a negative that it would outweigh the rest of the criteria. For other people, it would not.

I need four distinct seasons, without either the summer or winter being extreme.

Neil_Oz

High rates of violent crime and incarceration could also indicate a problem - selective statistics are a two edged sword.

enroute

Ira, although I tend to agree on a purely logical basis of this single statistic, I would consider suicide in the context of other causes of death and the overall mortality rate. (somehow makes me think of Rwanda nad Somalia ) Per capita income and social services are of course another dominant factor... Am I taking this post too seriously?

sansman

Bottom line any cross country comparisons are fairly subjective. Put an Italian in Norway and he would probably become suicidial if he had to stay too long. Put a Norwegian in Italy, and I am sure he would go a bit nutty over the ineffectuve bureacracy (sp).

ira

Hi sansman
>I bet the suicide rate in China is relatively low. <

You lose. China has one of the world's highest suicide rates, especially for women and young people.

>High rates of violent crime and incarceration could also indicate a problem ...<

Well, one would expect high rates of crime to have high rates of incarceration.

Crime rate in Norway is about 1/8 that of the US, probably because young Norwegian males are so depressed and suicidal that they can't get up the gumption to commit violent crime.

Joanne28

I agree with RufusTFirefly. We all have our personal criteria. I'm Canadian and naturally think that overall Canada is the best place to live. If I'm going by weather though, I much prefer English weather. No, I'm not crazy (much), I just like the more moderate weather. I've travelled to the UK about 8 or 10 times & I guess I've always been lucky with the weather. And seeing flowers blooming on Feb 28 (my birthday) blew me away entirely!