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Norway tops UN quality-of-life index

For the last 4 years, Norway has ranked as the best place to live in the world according to an annual United Nations study. Neighboring Sweden ranked at number two with Austrailia and Canada following in the third and fourth spots. Interestingly, the United States comes in at number eight.

The UN created the index in order to measure the extent of human development in countries around the world. Countries were ranked based on things like average income, life expectancy and education.

I have never considered moving out of the United States. We are taught that this is the greatest country in the world and that nobody else has the freedoms that we have here. I don't want to sound un-grateful or un-patriotic, but frankly, I'm scared about what is happening to this country and unsure about our future here. I don't know a lot about government and politics so I can't really point fingers to blame our leaders for the mess that we've gotten ourselves into. For the most part, I attribute all of our problems to the breakdown of the family which started a long time ago and seems to be getting worse. I feel sorry for the youth of this country who are overdosed daily on music, television and other media that lacks moral standards, promotes greed, violence, lust, and is completely void of any intellectual stimulation. The primary purpose of media in the U.S. today is to make money by selling airtime and products, nothing else matters. It's all about the bottom dollar. This is the kind of mentallity so many people in this country accept now, especially the youth. What's sad is that I see the gap growing wider between the rich and the poor. Millions of people don't have access to medical insurance and as a result, cannot get proper medical care. Our government is busy spending our tax money fighting a war on "terror" that is not supported by most of the world including many of our "so-called" allies. Anti-American sentiment is spreading throughout the world . . . what has happened to this once great country?

After reading an article about Norway having the top quality-of-life, made me think about a lot of things. There are countries out there who provide medical care to all of their people. Where unemployment and the number of homeless people is low. Where the average income is much higher than in the U.S. allowing people to take care of themselves and have all of the things they need to live and survive.

I did some research about Norway and found that the average income is a staggering $36,000 USD! They are very strict about wearing seat belts and have a low tolerence for drunk driving. The average life expectancy there is 79. The average Temperature in January is a chilly 26.6 degrees Farenheit compared to an average 63 degrees farenheit in July. The days are very short in the winter with only a few hours of daylight and the days are very long in the summer months with only a few hours of darkness.

I don't know for sure if I would ever take the giant leap to move out of the U.S. It would be a difficult thing to do, but given our current situation here I am definately more open to leaving this place then I would have ever expected. Living in Europe could be a very interesting, exciting and positive experience.

Here is a link to the article on Norway's official website:
http://www.norway.org/News/200404Norway_undp.htm

Here is a link to Sweden's official website (in English):
http://www.sweden.se/

The top 20 countries ranked by quality of life:
1. Norway
2. Sweden
3. Australia
4. Canada
5. Netherlands
6. Belgium
7. Iceland
8. United States
9. Japan10. Ireland
11. Switzerland
12. Britain
13. Finland
14. Austria
15. Luxembourg
16. France
17. Denmark
18. New Zealand
19. Germany
20. Spain