Norway is the best place to live (allegedly.)

[Kristie]

Everyone knows that the UK is the best place to live because so damn many of our forum members live there!

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Rather than accepting some top-down Statist evaluation of what country is the best, why not look at things the democratic way and see where people are immigrating to / from?

http://www.migrationinformation.org/Dat ... rative.cfm

Don't get riled. I am not accepting anything. I only want you to explain your statements above. I am questioning why you immediately dismissed the UN figures as propaganda. You have yet to give me a satisfactory explanation, other than to say that (in your opinion) it is some kind of pissing contest on behalf of those countries at the top sponsored by the UN. If you feel that the UN's criteria are wrong, then please feel free to offer something tangible in their place.

All you have done is offer a list of migration patterns in its place. Are you suggesting that somehow migrants are in a better position to evaluate the economic and social worth of a country than the UN? Surely there are more factors governing migration than merely the desirability of the country migrated to. There is the ease of travel to that country, its immigration policy, its policy on asylum seekers and deportation, whether the prospective migrant has relatives already living there, whether they speak the same language as the migrant there.

Please answer my questions with something more than a blanket statement and a link to something irrelevant.

[Kristie]

you fuckers are ruining my post run

[Drewish]

I am saying that the mere title of "Best Places To Live" implies the vapidity and pointless conjecture of the type of top 10 or top 100 lists that appear regularly on VH1. There of course must be standards by which one determines the 'best' but what those standards are then determines what the rankings are. And so this list is empty and hallow, meant to be fed easily to the news cycle for no reason other than posturing. If not, then the U.N. is simply wasting the money that its member nations give it for nothing. There certainly is a motivation behind this, and it is as implicit as the criteria used for determining the 'best.' I can't think of any way to state it more clearly. And if I must produce an alternative 'best' list (which by the very nature of my complaint should seem ridiculous) then simply choose some criteria from the sources I have given you and make one up. That's essentially all the U.N. has done here, and the absurdity of treating it as if it should be read with any seriousness is baffling.

[Kristie]

It's all just generic. The best place to live for anyone is where they're happiest. I'd rather like to be in Hawaii right now.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I am saying that the mere title of "Best Places To Live" implies the vapidity and pointless conjecture of the type of top 10 or top 100 lists that appear regularly on VH1. There of course must be standards by which one determines the 'best' but what those standards are then determines what the rankings are. And so this list is empty and hallow, meant to be fed easily to the news cycle for no reason other than posturing. If not, then the U.N. is simply wasting the money that its member nations give it for nothing. There certainly is a motivation behind this, and it is as implicit as the criteria used for determining the 'best.' I can't think of any way to state it more clearly. And if I must produce an alternative 'best' list (which by the very nature of my complaint should seem ridiculous) then simply choose some criteria from the sources I have given you and make one up. That's essentially all the U.N. has done here, and the absurdity of treating it as if it should be read with any seriousness is baffling.

I disagree. For several reasons.

Firstly, I think that the 4 criteria chosen (assuming that they are accurately measured, which is a big ask) are simple and a sensible choice: Life expectancy, literacy rates, school enrolment and country economies. There are other criteria which could be applied - and personally, I would like to see some measure of the spread of wealth included (Saudi Arabia would score highly in terms of economy but 90%+ of its citizens are piss-poor) - but I think that these cover the 3 areas of medical, educational and economic success well. A country that scored highly on all 4 would be a better place to live than one that scored lower in several. What it neglects to mention is any evaluation of personal freedom and human rights - a glaring omission but a contentious one that would have antagonised too many states (so a partial concession there, but I still think the rest of the criteria are sound.)

Secondly, I believe that it does serve a purpose, as it is repeated at regular intervals and gives an indication of how countries are faring against each other - if only a thumbnail impression. For developing states, this can be an encouragement to continual improvement and a source of pride. OK, this may seem trivial but I know how seriously these sort of things are taken at a level far below national, so don't underestimate its positive reinforcement effects at that level.

Thirdly, even if it is ultimately useless, it is hardly an expensive exercise in global terms and does no harm.

Dismissing the survey out of hand was, in my opinion, a little flippant of you. And I found your subsequent arguments subjective and emotive. It is clear that you don't have much time for the UN, and it is certainly a flawed organisation in many ways, but I would prefer it if you would formulate something more coherent and examined instead of merely issuing sweeping generalisations such as, "It is all subjective propaganda" without any evidence or reasoning presented. Subject your gut reactions to analysis and tell us why you hold your views - it makes them more persuasive and leads to a more interesting discussion.

Thanks for your views on this.

[Bella Fortuna]

The best place to live for anyone is where they're happiest.

That's right.

And I don't care how bloody cold it gets there in the dead of winter.

[FBM]

I think we all know the truth that the UN is trying to hide about the real paradise on Earth.

[Trolldor]

Happiness is 'us and them' where 'them' is equal to 'us' minus one.
It's not propaganda, it's actually just one system of measurement based on arbitrary definitions.
If their brains release happy juice more, then they're happier than everybody else. It's too hard to analyse and compare that data, unfortunately.

[Animavore]

All the above is bollox. Everyone knows that you get the best laugh in Ireland. Norway may have a material lifestyle above ours but they are a bunch of dry shites. Come to Ireland for a laugh a minute.

[Clinton Huxley]

So which country is the best? There's only one way to settle this.....

[Trolldor]

[Pappa]

I love that film.

[JimC]

Australia is number 2, eh, between Norway and Iceland...

No warm, sandy surf beaches in Norway or Iceland...

[Feck]

Australia is number 2, eh, between Norway and Iceland...

No warm, sandy surf beaches in Norway or Iceland...

Not many ski slopes or volcanoes in OZ ... still not much of any of it in Scotland