Ireland Is The Best Place In The World!

Economist Survey Ranks Ireland Top For Quality Of Life

According to a quality of life survey, Ireland is ranked as the best country in the world, easily seizing top spot, while the U.S.A. is outside of the top ten in 13th and the U.K. languishes in 29th place.

Australia was the only non-European country in the top ten, finishing in a respectable sixth place.

The index of 111 countries, which was produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit and released yesterday in their 'Economist's World in 2005' publication, combines data on incomes, health, unemployment, climate, political stability, job security, gender equality as well as what the authors call "freedom, family and community life".

Ireland seized first place with a score of 8.33 (out of a possible maximum of 10), easily beating out second-placed Switzerland which scored 8.07 in the survey, while the United Kingdom was only able to narrowly top South Korea to the 29th spot with a score of 6.92

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Zimbabwe came last in the survey after securing just 3.89 points.

According to the survey's authors, the survey provides many lessons for world leaders who may think that money and wealth are the most important factors in their population's happiness: "Although rising incomes and expanded individual choices are highly valued," the report says, "some of the factors associated with modernisation - such as the breakdown of traditional institutions and the erosion of family values - in part offset its positive impact.

"Ireland wins because it successfully combines the most desirable elements of the new (the fourth highest gross domestic product per head in the world in 2005, low unemployment, political liberties) with the preservation of certain cosy elements of the old, such as stable family and community life."

The victory for Ireland in this survey show how far the country has come since the early 1990s.

The impact of ecomonic prosperity and the return home of many who had left the country seeking work has seen Ireland's GDP per person overtaking that of the UK several years ago.

Today Ireland's GDP/person stands at $36,790 while the U.K manages just $31,150.

"The results of the surveys have been attracting growing interest in recent years," according to The Economist.

"It has long been accepted that material well-being alone does not adequately measure quality of life. Money matters, of course, but surveys suggest that over the decades big increases in income have translated into only a modest rise in satisfaction."

The Economist's Quality of Life survey uses a number of complex equations which give most weight to matters of health, well-being, political stability and security.

Much less importance is given to factors such as climate, job security, political freedom and gender equality.

The survey is in its 17th year.