Born lucky (or not)
Jan 21st 2013, 7:59 am
#1
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,107
Born lucky (or not)
I think we are in great need of a new thread.
This escaped (my) attention when it came out but via a few links has popped up this month; it's a ranking of countries in the world according to where best to be born:
http://www.economist.com/news/215664...3-lottery-life
UAE quite a bit higher than Britain! Of course if your country is not in the Top 12 then really you're not even worth talking to.
The Washington Post has turned it into a nice colour-coded map:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...rn-into-today/
This escaped (my) attention when it came out but via a few links has popped up this month; it's a ranking of countries in the world according to where best to be born:
http://www.economist.com/news/215664...3-lottery-life
UAE quite a bit higher than Britain! Of course if your country is not in the Top 12 then really you're not even worth talking to.
The Washington Post has turned it into a nice colour-coded map:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...rn-into-today/
Jan 21st 2013, 8:24 am
#3
Excess Baggage
Joined: Jul 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 5,479
Re: Born lucky (or not)
Interesting. Being born at the right TIME is a key factor as well, I think, as Warren Buffet said.
Jan 21st 2013, 10:08 am
#4
Knee deep and rising
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 3,007
Re: Born lucky (or not)
Seems legit to me. Although it has not got Ireland at number 1 so could be open to question.
Pakistan should be lower
Pakistan should be lower
Jan 21st 2013, 10:09 am
#5
Account Closed
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 0
Re: Born lucky (or not)
Serious Question.
What makes IReland so great in this sort of table?
What makes IReland so great in this sort of table?
Jan 21st 2013, 10:22 am
#6
Knee deep and rising
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 3,007
Re: Born lucky (or not)
according to the article
The best countries to be born in are small, peaceful, homogenous, liberal democracies.
Which pretty much describes Ireland (when you exclude the north)
Low population density, high GDP per capita (economic crisis aside), high education rates, socialist tinges in our welfare state and the ability to make foreign women tremble at the knees.
The best countries to be born in are small, peaceful, homogenous, liberal democracies.
Which pretty much describes Ireland (when you exclude the north)
Low population density, high GDP per capita (economic crisis aside), high education rates, socialist tinges in our welfare state and the ability to make foreign women tremble at the knees.
Jan 21st 2013, 10:24 am
#7
Big Member
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,889
Re: Born lucky (or not)
according to the article
The best countries to be born in are small, peaceful, homogenous, liberal democracies.
Which pretty much describes Ireland (when you exclude the north)
Low population density, high GDP per capita (economic crisis aside), high education rates, socialist tinges in our welfare state and the ability to make foreign women tremble at the knees.
The best countries to be born in are small, peaceful, homogenous, liberal democracies.
Which pretty much describes Ireland (when you exclude the north)
Low population density, high GDP per capita (economic crisis aside), high education rates, socialist tinges in our welfare state and the ability to make foreign women tremble at the knees.
Jan 21st 2013, 10:27 am
#9
Account Closed
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 0
Re: Born lucky (or not)
according to the article
The best countries to be born in are small, peaceful, homogenous, liberal democracies.
Which pretty much describes Ireland (when you exclude the north)
Low population density, high GDP per capita (economic crisis aside), high education rates, socialist tinges in our welfare state and the ability to make foreign women tremble at the knees.
The best countries to be born in are small, peaceful, homogenous, liberal democracies.
Which pretty much describes Ireland (when you exclude the north)
Low population density, high GDP per capita (economic crisis aside), high education rates, socialist tinges in our welfare state and the ability to make foreign women tremble at the knees.
Sounds like Wiltshire, so I'm happy.
Jan 21st 2013, 10:31 am
#10
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Disneyland, Dubai
Posts: 15,887
Re: Born lucky (or not)
If I had the choice of being born an Egyptian or a Russian, I would choose Russian regardless of what that survey says.
Jan 21st 2013, 1:07 pm
#13
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 2010
Location: Not Brisbane
Posts: 1,210
Re: Born lucky (or not)
Australia at 2 
, means the list is crap
, means the list is crap
Jan 21st 2013, 1:08 pm
#14
Account Closed
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,502
Re: Born lucky (or not)
The UAE ranking probably only factors in native-born Emiratis? At least that'd be the statistics officially reported by the UAE authorities and in this light it'd be more accurate to compare the stats for babies born to the top 20% of UK wage earners.
Overall the list isn't surprising. It's long been know that smaller, homogenous European countries (read, overwhelmingly white from a single ethnic/cultural group) do the best job at providing a high quality of life for their people. It's when you get to the larger, more diverse (read, lots of immigrants, lots of poor minorities) countries that the overall QOL declines. I bet if you could break down the QOL by cultural groups within the larger countries you'd probably find that the QOL for the 'native born' population is more or less equal to Norway/Sweden/Netherlands etc (but not the UK as there's too many white trash running around).
Canada seems to be the only country that can genuinely be called diverse and still have a very high QOL. Australia has its migrants but I still wouldn't call it diverse, not like Canada. I like Canada. All the benefits of being in North America without being America.
Overall the list isn't surprising. It's long been know that smaller, homogenous European countries (read, overwhelmingly white from a single ethnic/cultural group) do the best job at providing a high quality of life for their people. It's when you get to the larger, more diverse (read, lots of immigrants, lots of poor minorities) countries that the overall QOL declines. I bet if you could break down the QOL by cultural groups within the larger countries you'd probably find that the QOL for the 'native born' population is more or less equal to Norway/Sweden/Netherlands etc (but not the UK as there's too many white trash running around).
Canada seems to be the only country that can genuinely be called diverse and still have a very high QOL. Australia has its migrants but I still wouldn't call it diverse, not like Canada. I like Canada. All the benefits of being in North America without being America.
