The United Nations released its annual Human Development Report, a report that ranks people’s happiness in terms of six factors, — per capita gross domestic product, social support, freedom,healthy life expectancy, generosity, and absence of corruption in government or business.
The list by UN took nearly 200 countries into account, and have compiled the list of countries that essentially ranks them from best to worst places to live.
Here are the top 10 countries that scored the highest.
10. Canada — Canada ranks very high in education achievement, and over 50% of its residents are college graduates.
9. Iceland — Icelandic people, have the highest life expectancy in the world, living an average of 82.7 years.
Reuters/Darren Staples
7. The Netherlands — Netherlands has the lowest rates of income inequality in the world (12.4%), which has been continually decreasing since the mid-1990s.
Source: OECD
6. Singapore — Life expectancy in this country is also very long, with an average person expected to live over 83 years.
5. Denmark — Denmark has tied scores with Singapore. The country dropped in the rankings from last year’s first position to 5th but has managed to decrease the gender wage gap is to 7.8% for full-time employees in Denmark. This percentage hovers at 17.9% in the US.
Source: OECD
4. Germany — After October 2014, almost every university is free for residents and international students in Germany, which has led to over 96% of the population having at least some secondary education.
3. Switzerland — It ranks very highly in overall health scores, with the life expectancy of 83 years and people having a low risk for diseases like malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis.
2. Australia — The Aussies dedicate over 5% of the national GDP towards education, and the UN report states that most students go to school for over 20 years in Australia.
1. Norway — Norway has ranked the highest in the standard of living, life expectancy, and education due to the country’s publicly funded healthcare system and high health standards.
A general look at the report shows that the world is becoming a better place to live. Although 800 million people around the world live below the extreme poverty line, the stats show that much of the world is at least at medium development stage with 1 billion people rising above the poverty line in the past 25 years.
Rates of development by country.The United Nations/Screenshot