Best Place To Be Born Index 2013

[joeExpat]

Sorry Australia, pipped at the post by Switzerland. Still it's nice for my home country and current abode to be numbers 1 & 2.
Regardless how hard you work and invest, we're pretty lucky to be born in the right place.

http://www.economist.com/news/21566430-where-be-born-2013-lottery-life

 

[Dazz]

You've gotta be kiddin' me.....

Any scoring system that ranks NZ in the top 10 has got to be crazy !!

 

[westminster]

It's a ranked index - 1 being the best and 80 being the worst.

 

[sanj]

Hahahahaha

An aussie resident describing turkey as uncivilised, the irony is too delicious to describe

 

[Aaron Sice]

i find it funny that taiwan beat the united states, and kuwait beat britain,

 

[Nemo30]

Hahahahaha

An aussie resident describing turkey as uncivilised, the irony is too delicious to describe

Can you elaborate further? (I was going to say, please explain, however decided against it )

I'm not sure what you're getting at - my part of Australia is pretty civilised... not sure about where you live.

 

[sanj]

I absolutely LOVE Australia but, aside from our indigenous heritage which is by and large ignored and forms no part of most of our daily lives, is an extremely young country with bugger all history and a lot of uncouth morons> Like i said above i love this country and im not at all denying the positives here but surely a bit of perspective is needed here, especially when denigrating other countries with amazing history and culture

Look for turkey+civilisation+history if you remain convinced it is uncivilised.

un·civ·i·lized/ˌənˈsivəˌlīzd/
Adjective:
(of a place or people) Not considered to be socially, culturally, or morally advanced.
Impolite; bad-mannered.

I will admit that using Australia as an example was prob inflammatory and at least partly incorrect but i do get extremely irritated at how insular we can often be and the comments from some re anything or anyone different.

 

[DaveM]

Regardless how hard you work and invest, we're pretty lucky to be born in the right place.

Very true. When our issues are about whether to buy houses in Sydney or Brisbane, or whether to drink a glass of white or red, or whether to order eagle boys or dominos, instead issues being whether you will be able to eat tomorrow or if your dictator ruler will have you slaughtered, we are doing pretty well.

 

[sanj]

Very true. When our issues are about whether to buy houses in Sydney or Brisbane, or whether to drink a glass of white or red, or whether to order eagle boys or dominos, instead issues being whether you will be able to eat tomorrow or if your dictator ruler will have you slaughtered, we are doing pretty well.

Absolutely. We've got it great over here

 

[westminster]

Anyway the list wasn't about being civilised and Ted didn't understand how the list works.

Australia gets a 2 as kids born in 2013 are living in a country which is currently is the land of opportunity compared to many other countries still struggling post/ongoing GFC. Any kid born next year will have the opportunity/access to free medical, free education (well practically free as most govt fees are voluntary), human rights, equal opportunities and an economy which is pretty sound. In 2053 one of these kids might be our prime minister.

 

[Nemo30]

I absolutely LOVE Australia but, aside from our indigenous heritage which is by and large ignored and forms no part of most of our daily lives, is an extremely young country with bugger all history and a lot of uncouth morons> Like i said above i love this country and im not at all denying the positives here but surely a bit of perspective is needed here, especially when denigrating other countries with amazing history and culture

Look for turkey+civilisation+history if you remain convinced it is uncivilised.

un·civ·i·lized/ˌənˈsivəˌlīzd/
Adjective:
(of a place or people) Not considered to be socially, culturally, or morally advanced.
Impolite; bad-mannered.

I will admit that using Australia as an example was prob inflammatory and at least partly incorrect but i do get extremely irritated at how insular we can often be and the comments from some re anything or anyone different.

I see what you are saying, however I dont necessarily equate a long history or culture with being civilised. ('culture' means different things to different people). I hate when people say Australia doesnt have a culture - watching cricket on a saturday afternoon is definitely part of our culture

My definition of being civilised would relate to law and order and respect for other citizens. I think Australia rates quite highly in that regard.

 

[pinkboy]

Also keep in mind there are 200+ countries, so if these are the top 80, then there is still 60% of the worlds countries not listed.

Would be good to see the historical data of the same table.

pinkboy

 

[joeExpat]

Also keep in mind there are 200+ countries, so if these are the top 80, then there is still 60% of the worlds countries not listed.

Would be good to see the historical data of the same table.

I don't think these are the top 80, they didn't include most small countries than would probably fit somewhere in the list, e.g Andorra, Lichtenstein, Fiji, Tonga, etc..

Here is their list from 25 years ago, Australia was 18th then & the US was at the top. The top 4 back then are no longer in the top 15.

 

[pinkboy]

Well there you go, thanks for that. Im an '83 model, so that would be close enough for me. Just goes to show that we now can give our children the best possible head start right at the moment.

pinkboy

 

[Fifth]

I don't think these are the top 80, they didn't include most small countries than would probably fit somewhere in the list, e.g Andorra, Lichtenstein, Fiji, Tonga, etc..

I'm not sure of the algorithm used, but I do believe these are the top 80 as there are a number of omitted countries with significant populations.

E.g. Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Armenia, Georgia, Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Albania, Moldova, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Uruguay, Paraguay, Panama, Jamaica, Laos, Myanmar, Mongolia, etc..

 

[Truly Exotic]

Why is Nigeria last?

They have so many billionaire princes and uncles who are dying to give money to the rest of the world!

 

[Andrew_A]

Interesting that on this chart Australia scores badly in both the Philistine and Yawn index

 

[ozmale42]

You've gotta be kiddin' me.....

Any scoring system that ranks NZ in the top 10 has got to be crazy !!

Why is that?....That country has a pretty good standard of living, probably as good, if not better, hospitals and schooling than most other capitalist western societies. Law and order and the judicial system I'd rate higher than many other countries in which I've lived and worked. Cost of living is probably on par with most parts of Australia but with Auckland comparatively cheaper than Sydney and Melbourne, on average when taking into account wages, price of consumable items and housing prices in like for like suburbs.

My only complaints would be the high amount spent on social welfare regardless of which party is in power. Unemployment , while higher than in most parts Australia, is largely driven by the propensity of some to take a benefit rather than work. There's work there if people want it. Also their traditional export industries have dimnishedto a large extent in the last 30years with tourism now taken over from agricuture and forestry as their main export earner.

Not suggesting that 4th place is about right for NZ , but I'd be hard pressed to list 9 counties ahead of it in terms of where I'd rather live. Your comment suggests that it probably ought to be somewhere near the bottom and I'd just be curious to hear your reasoning on that.

Cheers

 

[Dazz]

Not suggesting that 4th place is about right for NZ

Neither was I, nor was the published list...

I'd be hard pressed to list 9 counties ahead of it in terms of where I'd rather live.

If that is the case, there is no point answering your initial question of "why is that" ??

 

[ozmale42]

Neither was I, nor was the published list...




If that is the case, there is no point answering your initial question of "why is that" ??

Sorry Dazz, a typo. I meant 7th.

I was just curious as to what has lead you to that thinking. Have you had a few bad experiences there?