Quality Of Life Index 2010: Which Country Has It Best? (PHOTOS)

International Living has released their 30th annual Quality of Life Index, which attempts to answer the question of what is the best place in the world to live.

Using what seems to be a semi-statistical reasoning (data is used, but so is personal experience), the countries have been ranked in 10 categories - Cost of Living, Culture and Leisure, Economy, Environment, Freedom, Health, Infrastructure, Safety and Risk, and Climate.

As usual, the rankings have provoked equal shock and happiness from different quarters - Brits seem exceptionally upset, although not surprised, that their ranking has dropped below that of the Czech Republic.

Check out the top ten below, and let us know what you think of the rankings.

1st - France

Pros World's best health care system, good food



Cons Tiresome bureaucracy, high taxes

comments(730)

Best Places To Live (Current Rank: loading...)

Low Life High Life

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Now Make Your Own Top 5

And Share with Your Friends

Average rating: loading... out of 10

Best Quality Of Life

loading...

Best Quality Of Life

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

Best Quality Of Life

Users Who Voted on this Slide

loading...

loading...

HuffPost Community Top 5 Slides:

«»

 | Become a fan

Best Quality Of Life

 

Get HuffPost World On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[Ledamien]

08:04 PM on 03/17/2010

Part two of the previous comment:

We moved to Kansas in 2007. My wife works, I'm a student. We own our house. This is the Land of Opportunities, so a former student in Performing Arts can study electrical engineering here (impossible in France unless I had made that choice when I was 3). Food costs more, but stuff costs nothing. I'm shocked by the prices for doctors, dentist, but not glasses (about the same than what I paid in France). Seriously, what you pay with an insurance here is like what you pay in France without it.... Making ends meet with 30k is difficult, but all in all, this is about the same economically speaking.
Except that the closest good quality cinema is 10 hours from here...

[Ledamien]

08:03 PM on 03/17/2010

I'm not a "bumper sticker patriot", but well, it feels good.
I want to settle some questions about French high taxes and cost of living. I'm not making a point here, just see for yourself and decide it this is horrible or Paradise:
When I moved into a two rooms apartment with my pregnant (and American) wife, we made about 1600 euros, working part time. The rent was 700 euros. We didn't have any problem with money, but vacations were limited to the Alps or the Atlantic coast, where my family lives. And also Paris, because we have friends there. Food was cheaper than in the US, but a new computer was more expansive.
When our daughter was born, we received a check from the Allocations Familiales, 700 euros. It paid for the stuff you need for a baby. We chose to go to a private hospital where my wife stayed 4 days, and had to pay 400 euros from our pocket.
Then, every month we received 200 euros for our daughter, plus about 200 euros to help us with our rent.
So, to sum up:
Working both part time, receiving about 2000 euros a month total, with health insurance, unemployment insurance, retirement fund included. Small apartment, small but quirky car, and limited stuff..

[inthedesert]

07:56 PM on 03/12/2010

What this piece does not say is that most average wage earners would not be able to afford an apartment larger than a phone booth. LOL.

[Talossa]

11:43 AM on 03/15/2010

If I lived in Paris I wouldn't spend much time at home!

[Riemann]

06:47 PM on 03/15/2010

It's true, you would be sleeping in the subways.

[rtb61]

12:30 AM on 03/12/2010

High house prices in Australia, reflect a different life style and living experience in inner suburbs. Unlike many other countries, the closer into the city centre your house is the higher the price, the outer suburbs are far cheaper, but in US parlance they would be referenced as other towns, rather than in Australian parlance as outer suburbs.
Australians prefer to avoid the commute and like having easier access to services and shopping as such there is a premium on living within 10km of the CBD ( significantly larger for being within 2km), public and budget housing are in what are called "satellite towns" ie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth,_South_Australia, say greater than 15km from the city centre.

[henrypapillon]

11:59 PM on 02/24/2010

People live in the Eiffel Tower?

[netzwerg]

10:02 AM on 03/07/2010

No.

[Halsey]

11:08 PM on 02/21/2010

Please..HOW DOES ONE GET A WORK PERMIT..I read about ex pats..and no one will tell me the secret to getting an EU permit..(and...I'm NOT a computer scientist...just lowly finance..and NOT a commodity trader)...I can handle a little apt...since in LA..I've lived in a single for over 5 years now..I find..you can only be in one room at a time :-)...(I do need my own bathroom ...)..throw an aging former pretty lady a bone..tell me HOW to get OUT of the USA (I used to love it...and..it's been going downhill since Reagan's first election...regardless of what party was IN the White House..my disappointment is non-prejudicial...)

[DavidBlackburn]

12:50 PM on 03/01/2010

You should visit each country's embassy website to see their requirements. Only EU citizens have the right to work in any country. So, if you have a work permit in France as a permanent resident, you can't work in the UK.

[netzwerg]

10:07 AM on 03/07/2010

Try to get a "eased work permit". If a company wants to hire you, they can. A government still issues a work permit, but suspends some of the requirements. For example, they do not require potential employers to prove that there is there is lack of suitable local candidates. Instead, the employer may simply have to show that your salary is above a certain level and that you are a talented/ highly-educated individual.

In other words, you can go work in a country under three conditions, namely that you have a job offer, acceptable university degree and a salary above a preset minimum. That’s it!

[Now thats funny]

12:14 PM on 02/21/2010

I guess if you don't mind goverment running your life, being taxed to death, and living in a small apartment because of the cost of living, Europe is a great place to live

[Sandiaman]

11:21 AM on 02/26/2010

I guess if you don't mind ignorance, racism, not caring for the sick, and a dog eat dog lifestyle, the US should be #1.

[PolySci]

12:01 PM on 03/01/2010

I have lived in France and spent long periods of time in Belgium. You don't know what you're talking about.

[Maryhobee]

07:48 PM on 02/17/2010

From Canada (no. 9!!) Look how far we`ve dropped since the conservatives took over.

[Now thats funny]

12:26 PM on 02/21/2010

boo hoo. "I'm not going to have the nanny state take care of me, I'm going to have to do it myself"

[AMaitrejean]

07:17 AM on 02/15/2010

I have been living in France now for 16 months and I must say I just love it! I have nicknamed France the Land of Flowers as they are everywhere! The food is delicious, the people are very friendly and I love the rich culture and historical elements. It is laughably simple to get medical care...it is a non-thought to the French. My husband and I sailed over 900 nautical miles through France and we encountered all kinds of people....and I must say that I have never, ever encountered that ridiculous stereo-type that the French are rude and arrogant people...not once! I was so intimidated before moving here, hearing all the stories from people telling me that I would be treated rudely, but that has simply never been the case. On the contrary, they are very friendly, warm, helpful and interesting people and it has made living far from home a real pleasure.

[elan4444]

07:31 PM on 02/15/2010

Thanks for stating that - considering the amount of time I have spent in France over a period of several years, there hasn't been a rude incident. Wonder where those arrogant people are hiding?

[Talossa]

11:41 AM on 03/15/2010

I have been visiting Europe regularly since the early 1980's. Although this is just my own experience and a broad generalization, I have found that the French get more polite, and the Germans less polite, every time I visit. Speaking French helps (a lot) but I also speak German and that doesn't seem to earn me the smiles it used to. France, to me, is still the place I would visit the most if I could do so every year, but if I had to live in Europe I would probably choose the UK. (Better bookstores!)

[KIVPossum]

02:42 AM on 03/16/2010

Once you get out of Paris, the French are wonderful people.

[richardgordon]

10:43 PM on 02/16/2010

When I was in my early 20s I spent 3 months living in Paris. A very magical place. My impression was that the French have their priorities right.

[SPacific]

02:48 PM on 02/14/2010

I love living on the Monterey Peninsula, Pacific Grove to be exact. Great place to raise children, great restaurants, safe, and far enough away from the urban sprawl that is the Bay Area......

[abasheddevil]

04:21 PM on 02/13/2010

The grass is always greener on the other side.

[laikhuram]

08:28 AM on 02/19/2010

especially when they have a government run healthcare system and a well funded functioning public school system...

[Now thats funny]

12:09 PM on 02/21/2010

And the highest taxes on earth

[Ledamien]

07:37 PM on 03/17/2010

That comment almost made me cry. They stopped trying to reform the health care system in the 90's (a prime minister lost his job because he wanted to sort-of-privatize social security), but they also reduced the number of teachers by 11,000 since 2007. A disaster.
Good thing we like to demonstrate. Block a country for a day or two is efficient, you should try it here sometimes...

[bogan]

05:53 PM on 02/11/2010

i know a few italians who are working in australia, towards gaining permanent residency. they say italy is not a nice place to run a small business, due poor bureaucracy and especially "always paying" ie mafia.

[hulagirrrl]

02:02 AM on 02/11/2010

One thing is true, arts are not considered elitist in Germany. The years after reunification the people living in the west had to pay a "solidarity" tax to help rebuild the east. It was a burden, but now as you see so many cities rebuild I am glad that they did collect the tax. Not all is gold that glitters, and there are still too many unemployed in the east, but it was a big undertaking, and Germany can be proud of it. They have wonderful museums, opera houses and and and, even a culture ministry. One example: the public library system in the city of Stuttgart has a loan system for art, and you can "borrow" it for a period of time and return it. Wonderful, the walls in your home will never be boring..

Every country has good and bad, I am glad that I got to experience different places, but would always rank Hawaii in the top ten of anything.

[bogan]

05:37 PM on 02/11/2010

Im Australian, but here is my impression of German art....Thats correct, german art is not elitist at all and anyone can use it to communicate, Berlin is a focal point.

http://www.anticharisma.com/berlin_grafitti.html

[Rodrigo Saitua]

04:03 PM on 02/13/2010

Cool website!!

[coastalcarla]

04:06 PM on 02/10/2010

I'll stick with the Pacific Northwest. It is so beautiful that people come from all over the world just to look at it. And I get to live here! Also, it's far enough away from the city that I don't have to deal with urbanites, except when they drive through on vacation (make sure and buy some souveniers, touristas!). I spent 20 years in the city - I can live without it's "convenience".

[VioletDatura]

12:05 PM on 02/27/2010

As an fellow PNW'er (although an urbanite!) I agree with you, coastalcarla.

Within minutes to a few hours you can experience just about anything you want to here in WA state.... farmland, skiing, tulip fields, scuba diving, city life, rain forests, desert, islands, orca whales, snow-capped mountain ranges, fruit orchards, volcanos, ferry rides, salmon fishing, camping, hiking, hot springs, fabulous beer and wine, oysters and clam digging, native cultural sites, and, of course, vampires and werewolves in the forests of Forks. ;-)

[eastjame]

03:12 AM on 02/06/2010

i've moved from new zealand to london and i can say that i can definitely see why new zealand is much higher on the quality of life index than the england.
living on minimum wage in both these countries is a vastly different experience.