U.N. Names Australia Second-Best Place to Live
Australia was named the second-best country in the world to live in based on the United Nations Human Development Index released Thursday.
Australia got a score of 0.93 out of 1 to place behind first-place Norway, which scored 0.94. On third place was the Netherlands, followed by the U.S. and New Zealand.
The Human Development Index scores are based on life expectancy, years of schooling and per capita income. Norway beat Australia to the top position because it has a per capita income of $47,600 versus Australia's $34,400.
Some nations have higher per capita incomes than Norway, but fared poorly on other criteria such as years of schooling. Qatar registered a per capita income of $107,700 but average school stay is just seven years. Singapore logged $52,600 per capita income, but its citizens attend school only an average of 10 years.
On the opposite end of the index is the Democratic Republic of Congo, which scored 0.29. The average life span of a Congolese is 49 years, while average schooling is just 3.5 years.
Rounding up the bottom five are Niger, Burundi, Mozambique and Chad.