Oh, come on, Norway. The competition isn’t even fun anymore.
For the eighth straight year, Norway has topped the United Nations’ quality-of-life list in its annual Human Development Index. Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Ireland round out the top five. The study attempts to use diverse measures like health, gender equality, education and political freedom to rank 169 nations.
So what makes it so great to live in Norway? It doesn’t top any one category, but it wins the Most Well-Rounded award. Life expectancy there is a whopping 81 years, and the oil-rich country has a per capita average income of $58,810. Plus, the average person attends school for 12.6 years. (Even the prisons are awesome in Norway.)
What country has the worst quality of life? That would be Zimbabwe, with a life expectancy of just 47 years and an average income of just $176. Dubious runners-up include Mozambique, Burundi, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo. (See pictures of political tension in Zimbabwe.)
Norway had better watch its back, though — Discovery News reports that “growth miracles” like China, Indonesia and South Korea are making major gains. Norwegians, start living longer and making more money, or next year could be an upset. (via Discovery News)