In 1988, the United States was ranked at the best place for a baby to be born, but today Switzerland is ranked No. 1 among 80 countries, researchers say. The Economist Intelligence Unit, a sister company of The Economist, used a quality-of-life index that links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys -- how happy people say they are -- to objective determinants of the quality of life across countries. The researchers used data from 2006, collected by the Gallup Poll, and conducted a regression analysis for 11 significant indicators. The independent variables included: material well-being as measured by gross domestic product per person; life expectancy at birth; the quality of family life, based primarily on divorce rates; the state of political freedoms; job security measured by the unemployment rate; climate measured the average deviation of minimum and maximum monthly temperatures and the number of months in the year with less than 1 inch of rainfall; personal physical security ratings based on homicide rates and ratings for risk from crime and terrorism; quality of community life; governance measured by ratings for corruption; gender equality measured by the share of seats in Parliament held by women. Following Switzerland the best places for infants to be born in 2013 were: Australia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Singapore, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Canada, Hong Kong, Finland, Ireland, Austria, Taiwan, Belgium, Germany tied with United States, United Arab Emirates, South Korea and Israel, The Economist said. Despite their economic dynamism, none of the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- scores impressively. Nigeria came in last.
GMT 18:35 2018 Thursday ,11 January
Syrian refugee sets himself ablaze at UN office in LebanonGMT 18:48 2018 Tuesday ,09 January
Novo Nordisk woos Belgian nano-drug makerGMT 17:54 2017 Wednesday ,27 December
Medical evacuations begin from besieged Syria rebel bastionGMT 12:14 2017 Monday ,25 December
MoHAP successfully conducts cochlear implant operationGMT 18:24 2017 Sunday ,24 December
Palestinian conjoined twins arrive in RiyadhGMT 19:05 2017 Monday ,18 December
new! magazine names fitness & food editorGMT 17:03 2017 Wednesday ,29 November
Spain reports case of 'mad cow disease'GMT 14:05 2017 Saturday ,11 November
EU can't agree on new licence for controversial glyphosate weedkiller
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor