Where are the Best Countries to Reside?

Where is the best Country to live? As a citizen of the USA, it is only appropriate to say “the USA”. I decided to do some investigation and take a more objective approach. I identified six factors that combined to form an overall ranking. Five of the factors are lifestyle, and one is financial.

The Lifestyle Index factors: Global Health (ranked by the healthiest), Citizen Happiness Index (ranked by happiest), Safety Index (based on crime & ranked by safest), Democracy (ranked by the most democratic government), and the ratio of GDP to Family Income (highest first on how much is shared with families) . The Financial factor is the one that counts: Purchasing power (ranked by the country where you get the most bang for your buck!).

The top 50 countries for five of the factors were considered, and the top 45 for the other one. For the combined rating (overall best), no country was considered if it did not rank in the top 45 on at least four of the factors. If it did not rank in the top 50, they were given a score of 50 for that factor. As a result, only 35 countries remained (see the combined chart). The combined result shows the combined rank for all six factors. The country with the lowest score would be considered the most desirable. The Scandinavian countries tend to dominate the list.