Green | September 21, 2007 | 5 comments

Finland = Best Place to Live

source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvZ5lm24hvzcs2JR4z4nEg4KtwRg

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Tori
Or at least according to new rankings published by Reader's Digest.Are they owned by the French or something?! The good old U. S. of A. comes in 23rd. 23rd?! WTF? We're the bastions of democracy (or, we were) and capitalism and freedom (sort of) and gun ownership. Come on man, that's got to be worth something.Joking aside, Reader's Digest used the UN's Human Development Index and the Environmental Sustainability Index drawn up by Yale and Columbia universities and the World Economic Forum as the statistical basis for the ranking. The list looks at several environmental (air and water quality, greenhouse-gas emissions) and social factors (gdp, education, unemployment, life expectancy).Nordic countries dominate the top of the list (Reader's Digest must like the cold).
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5 comments // Finland = Best Place to Live

  • Rikuh
  • Yesterdeath
    • 0
      Yesterdeath  

    • Finland is an amazing place. It is a great secret destination for summer vacationers in Europe --tons of unpopulated, unpolluted islands, it beats the crowded Mediterranean! Also, after having lived in Sweden, I have to give the Scandinavian countries credit for a high quality of life.

    • 4 years ago
  • superkiy
    • 0
      superkiy  

    • Two odd facts about Finland. 1) Great pizza. No joke. They are dead serious about the za. 2) Terrible coffee. Some of the worst in the world. Ask any Finn. They will agree.

    • 4 years ago
  • mcamargo
  • superkiy
    • 0
      superkiy  

    • I'm sure this survey is right on the money. I haven't been to Sweden or Norway, but I can say from experience (I've spent time in both Finland and Denmark recently) that quality of life is treated as a much more important issue in Scandinavian countries than it is here. Maybe the extreme weather and the dark, depressing winters force people to identify the basic things that create happiness and contentment, and find ways of amplifying them, not just in their individual lives, but also societally and commercially. I think the US would do well to pay attention to this study and others like it, and see what we can learn from our Nordic friends.

    • 4 years ago
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