Which country in the world is the best from an objective viewpoint?

Taking into account safety from natural disasters, wild animals, neighbours, education, opportunities for you and your children, healthcare, weather, general stability, and the future of that country (i.e. global warming, economic shifts, ageing populations), which would you say is the best?

I am inclined to say Britain and more specifically England. Although healthcare, opportunities, education, weather, and an ageing population, is slightly worse than the rest of Europe this is offset by the fact that our chances of invasion are relatively low (being that we are an island). We also benefit heavily from being at the centre of time - 8 hours behind China and 5-8 hours in front of America, which makes Britain an almost indispensable country in business terms. Our language is also the international language, which is a clear advantage.

Having said that, it may well be that Scandinavia - in particular Norway and Finland, are the best. They have the best education and healthcare, as well as opportunities. When and if global warming does occur there should be sizeable benefits to these countries - however the drawbacks could be immense, with much of the world fighting for their land. Norway also has an extremely large sovereign wealth fund, especially when compared to the size of their population. For the present (the next 50 years or so), I cannot see either of these countries ever becoming involved in anything but peacekeeping missions, and I also cannot see them being invaded either. The weather is a rather large draw back - with a fairly large portion of the year being almost sunless, and an almost identical chunk being sunny almost 24 hours a day. The obvious problem with moving to either of these countries for my children's benefit is that I don't stand a chance of learning their languages beyond the very basics, which would be very rude indeed.

So what do you think? Which country is objectively the best? Where would you raise your children?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

username612415

Finland's supposedly looking very good from the statistics I've seen. Second in World Education rankings, high up on life expectancy charts, all that good stuff. But they have no fish and chip shops, so life must be awful XD

Reply 2

34253

High life expectancy + fish and chips = non-existent. lol.

Reply 3

username612415

Original post by Elipsis

High life expectancy + fish and chips = non-existent. lol.

But a life without fish and chips is a life not worth living ;D

Reply 4

Emaemmaemily

Norway.
Best quality of living in the world, beautiful country, much better way of running it, good economy... i dunno. Everything.

Reply 5

girlwithsharpteeth

Does it have to be in europe? I'm very fond of the idea of Canada in a few years time...

Reply 6

34253

Original post by girlwithsharpteeth

Does it have to be in europe? I'm very fond of the idea of Canada in a few years time...

Nah, it can be Mongolia if you can validate it!

Reply 7

Lack of Creativity

Vancouver has been consistently rated as one of the most liveable cities on the planet, so Canada, more specifically British Columbia.

Reply 8

Dusty12

Yeah, Norway or Finland I reckon. Britain's not too bad really, but it isn't the one with the best quality of life, in my opinion. :smile:

Reply 9

Emaemmaemily

Nope, Norway has the best quality of living in the world :smile:

Plus all the other perks... But, quality of living seems like a pretty important factor!

Reply 10

girlwithsharpteeth

Original post by Elipsis

Nah, it can be Mongolia if you can validate it!

Then I'll definitely stick with Canada. Most people are put off only because they think its cold but areas like Victoria have great weather. Average income is good, unemployment is low, crime is low, education and healthcare is good... definitely somewhere I'm interested in :smile:

Reply 11

34253

Original post by girlwithsharpteeth

I also like the look of Canada, but wondered if it being connected to America could be a problem. I like that it has bags and bags of space.

Reply 12

Organ

UK, NZ and Aus. They play cricket, are fairly secular, fairly safe, modern economies, fairly progressive, multicultural .etc.

The USA has too many flaws, great as it is :moon:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 13

Panda Vinnie

Norway is a good shout, its people enjoy great prosperity.

I've always thought Switzerland is worth a mention, particularly because it has a strong economy and the 2 global financial capitals Zurich and Geneva in addition to the things Scandinavian countries have.

The politics is good, one of the best democratic models that exists today imo. Culturally it's also great, has three main languages depending on the region - german, french and italian. Weather is also very contrasting, cold on the east and north with Mediterranean type of weather in the south with its border to Italy. Has both the icy mountains of the Alps and tropical palm trees in Lugano.

Reply 14

No Man

I would say New Zealand would be up there with Norway.

It is just as developed as Australia/Canada/Scandinavia, etc but has milder weather, and it takes ages for anyone to get there (so there won't be any issues with neighbors), apart from Australians or Pacific islanders.

I think it's only flaw are earthquakes (which haven't been much of an issue until the recent one).

No language barrier either (although Norwegian is supposed to be the closest language to English).

Finnish is supposed to be a really difficult language to learn, so that's Finland's main flaw, as well as the winter.