Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
#76
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Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
UK was at 16 in the last survey and that was derived from 2004 figures. This year it's at 21 and these are at 2007 figures. I dread to think what number it will be at when the crash of 2007-2008 is incorporated for the next round. I can easily see it going closer to 30 - remember it's not just financial measurements but also life expectancy and education and other things not measureable in USD. It's quite a respected index and a fair reflection of the overall quality of life in a state.
#77
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Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
A good point - it's often been No. 1 but I think next time round it'll drop a few places for sure. I think Canada will move up from 4 for one thing. Norway Aussie and Canada should be in one order or another in the top three - I hope!
#78
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Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
UK was at 16 in the last survey and that was derived from 2004 figures. This year it's at 21 and these are at 2007 figures. I dread to think what number it will be at when the crash of 2007-2008 is incorporated for the next round. I can easily see it going closer to 30 - remember it's not just financial measurements but also life expectancy and education and other things not measureable in USD. It's quite a respected index and a fair reflection of the overall quality of life in a state.
The fact that in the UK I can earn more money, take my kids out in the car without the risk of some Dodge driving redneck sideswiping my car, and see a doctor the same evening if I feel ill. Makes my quality of life far above Canada, that matters far more than what some anonymous UN bean counter thinks.
#79
Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
the trouble with this survey is that people seem to be treating it like the premiership, with Australia as Manchester United and Britain as Portsmouth or recently relegated West Brom, when actually there's far less of an obvious gulf in quality or points scored: the "scores" used to rank countires show precious little difference across the top 20 or so: Norway and Australia are on 0.971 and 0.970, while 20 places below them you have New Zealand, Britain, and Germany, on 0.950 - 0.947. So the difference in "score" between Australia (Paradise!) and Britain (Hellhole!) is only 0.023: 2.3% less than the highest ranked nations. The difference in scores between places 21 to 40 is almost three times greater than the difference between places 1 and 21.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...elopment_Index
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...elopment_Index
#80
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Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
A lot of this is personal. From my point of view Canada was a struggle financialy, it took me 2 weeks to get an appointment with a doctor, and the quality of roads and driving were diabolical.
The fact that in the UK I can earn more money, take my kids out in the car without the risk of some Dodge driving redneck sideswiping my car, and see a doctor the same evening if I feel ill. Makes my quality of life far above Canada, that matters far more than what some anonymous UN bean counter thinks.
The fact that in the UK I can earn more money, take my kids out in the car without the risk of some Dodge driving redneck sideswiping my car, and see a doctor the same evening if I feel ill. Makes my quality of life far above Canada, that matters far more than what some anonymous UN bean counter thinks.
The issue of nations being very close is a good point, but the part of interest to me is the direction in which certain nations are travelling, not their relative proximity to other nations. Britain has slipped from 10 to 21 in less than two decades, so its trend is clearly in decline, rather than static or improving like other states.
#81
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Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
Same as if we measure the level of happiness...
#82
Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
Actually if the stats were to reflect slightly different criteria,namely services available to inhabitants of the country,such as medical care,(including type of drugs available)unemployment assistance,job retraining,retirement pensions,old age care, child care,rights of the individual,etc,etc expect we would still see Norway rated highly(as with it's neighbours) but unlikely the other two nations Australia or Canada would maintain such a high placement.
Same as if we measure the level of happiness...
Same as if we measure the level of happiness...
#83
Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
Happiness makes a far more interesting criteria, as all of the above points that you have brought up on the previous thread, suggest that if a country has these strong points such as the Scandinavian countries then the population should in theory be happy. In practice though, suicide and depression levels are very high in these countries, which leads me to concur that the physical environment plays a very important role as well. What is the point of being in such an advanced country and having access to such great amenities if gray skies and long cold dark winter months gradually erode the positive elements from somebody`s mind. It seems that somebody in southern europe would be far happier because the sun and climate count more than excellent amenities, of course the ultimate for many would be a combination of these two factors: First rate amenities and an excellent sunny climate and based on the survey results with this criteria in mind... mmmmm...lets see who comes out on top as the best place in which to live.....ah It Australia! I think all the people packing their bags and leaving Aus are making one hell of mistake
#84
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Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
Actually if the stats were to reflect slightly different criteria,namely services available to inhabitants of the country,such as medical care,(including type of drugs available)unemployment assistance,job retraining,retirement pensions,old age care, child care,rights of the individual,etc,etc expect we would still see Norway rated highly(as with it's neighbours) but unlikely the other two nations Australia or Canada would maintain such a high placement.
Same as if we measure the level of happiness...
Same as if we measure the level of happiness...
#85
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Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
Happiness makes a far more interesting criteria, as all of the above points that you have brought up on the previous thread, suggest that if a country has these strong points such as the Scandinavian countries then the population should in theory be happy. In practice though, suicide and depression levels are very high in these countries, which leads me to concur that the physical environment plays a very important role as well. What is the point of being in such an advanced country and having access to such great amenities if gray skies and long cold dark winter months gradually erode the positive elements from somebody`s mind. It seems that somebody in southern europe would be far happier because the sun and climate count more than excellent amenities, of course the ultimate for many would be a combination of these two factors: First rate amenities and an excellent sunny climate and based on the survey results with this criteria in mind... mmmmm...lets see who comes out on top as the best place in which to live.....ah It Australia! I think all the people packing their bags and leaving Aus are making one hell of mistake
#86
Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
The weather just isn't that important to some people, happiness is far more complex than that. I know people who have moved back from Spain and are very happy back in the UK. On trips to Australia I found the extreme heat and flies pretty annoying, you can't say that everyone leaving Aus is making a mistake.
#87
Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
Happiness makes a far more interesting criteria, as all of the above points that you have brought up on the previous thread, suggest that if a country has these strong points such as the Scandinavian countries then the population should in theory be happy. In practice though, suicide and depression levels are very high in these countries, which leads me to concur that the physical environment plays a very important role as well. What is the point of being in such an advanced country and having access to such great amenities if gray skies and long cold dark winter months gradually erode the positive elements from somebody`s mind. It seems that somebody in southern europe would be far happier because the sun and climate count more than excellent amenities, of course the ultimate for many would be a combination of these two factors: First rate amenities and an excellent sunny climate and based on the survey results with this criteria in mind... mmmmm...lets see who comes out on top as the best place in which to live.....ah It Australia! I think all the people packing their bags and leaving Aus are making one hell of mistake
Ah, edited after seeing your reply about the logical conclusion - never mind, the issue is still there and definitely contraindicates the logic.
Last edited by quoll; Oct 13th 2009 at 9:06 pm.
#88
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Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
Nice in theory but Australia has higher levels of suicide than many other "desirable" countries - and a recent report indicated that the suicide numbers may have been under reported by as much as 30%. Mental health here is not good especially amongst the young and youth suicide - although rates have declined in the last 5 years - is still up there. On a personal level - I can tell you that waking up to blue skies every day is an incredibly downer and I have no doubt that many folk out there in the bush feel the same way when they have no water - suicide amongst country folk is also at high levels at the moment.
Ah, edited after seeing your reply about the logical conclusion - never mind, the issue is still there and definitely contraindicates the logic.
Ah, edited after seeing your reply about the logical conclusion - never mind, the issue is still there and definitely contraindicates the logic.
Suicide rate in Australia - 10.9 / 100,000
Suicide rate in UK - 6.8 / 100,000
Suicide rate in France 17.6 / 100,000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...y_suicide_rate
#89
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Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
Happiness makes a far more interesting criteria, as all of the above points that you have brought up on the previous thread, suggest that if a country has these strong points such as the Scandinavian countries then the population should in theory be happy. In practice though, suicide and depression levels are very high in these countries, which leads me to concur that the physical environment plays a very important role as well. What is the point of being in such an advanced country and having access to such great amenities if gray skies and long cold dark winter months gradually erode the positive elements from somebody`s mind. It seems that somebody in southern europe would be far happier because the sun and climate count more than excellent amenities, of course the ultimate for many would be a combination of these two factors: First rate amenities and an excellent sunny climate and based on the survey results with this criteria in mind... mmmmm...lets see who comes out on top as the best place in which to live.....ah It Australia! I think all the people packing their bags and leaving Aus are making one hell of mistake
A few years ago can recall stats that pointed to the island nation of Vanuatu,as being the happiest nation on earth.
One can perhaps conclude from that finding that there is something to be said for a rather less materialistic more simplistic lifestyle in a place where folk find a sense of belonging away from world distractions?
#90
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Re: Australia voted 2nd best in world for quality of life
I once worked with a guy form Norway several years ago and he was from Bergen and I was surprised at how bad he viewed the Norwegian state system in regards to hospital treatment. He stated that appointments could be hard to get depending on where you lived and the quality of service wasn`t great either in the hospitals. Also the cost of housing was sky high in comparison to nearby Sweden and the condition of roads were poor as well. He could have been extremely biased in his views as he hated living in Norway but then again there could have been some truth to his gripe.
Could just be her angle on things?? No idea on the roads. Sweden being an already expensive country would think it strange that Norway would be sky high if compared with... must look out some info on that..