Norway first, Australia second in Quality of Life Survey 2009

Norway has ranked first and Australia second among 182 countries for offering the best quality of life in the world. The UN’s Human Development Report 2009, published yesterday, graded countries on a scale measuring life expectancy, school enrolments and income.

Iceland, Canada and Ireland took the remaining top five places. The US slipped to spot thirteen while Britain was ranked at number twenty-one. Europe did well with fifteen European countries in the top twenty. Japan (tenth) was the highest-ranked Asian country.

The report, authored by Dr Jeni Klugman, also looked at international migration and views on migrants. Dr Klugman said the developed world competed fiercely with other nations to attract the world’s most educated migrants. ”There’s competition at the top end where countries like Australia do well relative to some countries in Europe which have had difficulties in attracting skilled people,” she said.

The report also showed that migrant children in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland did just as well in school as their native peers, bucking a trend seen in many other countries.

Top 20 countries on the Human Development Index 2009:

1. Norway

2. Australia

3. Iceland

4. Canada

5. Ireland

6. Netherlands

7. Sweden

8. France

9. Switzerland

10. Japan

11. Luxembourg

12. Finland

13. United States

14. Austria

15. Spain

16. Denmark

17. Belgium

18. Italy

19. Liechtenstein

20. New Zealand

Source: UN Human Development Report 2009