Norway ranked by UN as world's best place to live

"Norway takes the number one spot in the annual United Nations human development index released Monday but China has made the biggest strides in improving the well-being of its citizens.

The index compiled by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) ranks 182 countries based on such criteria as life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.

Norway, Australia and Iceland took the first three spots while Niger ranks at the very bottom, just below Afghanistan."

My take:

Norway is the best place to live? Okay, I'll buy that, having grown up speaking Norwegian and eating Norwegian food? I've been there. The scenery is spectacular. The socialist government is a flaw, but that is offset by the odd fact that Norway may be the only  country that can afford socialism. With the saved proceeds from North Sea oil leases, Norway could buy most of Manhattan.

But Iceland as the third best place to live?

Next to Finland, Iceland might be the funniest place to live. The Icelanders I have known were constitutionally incapable of being serious.

A little known fact: Icelanders are, with few or no exceptions, expatriate Norwegians who departed westward about 1,000 years ago, settled on the island and set up the world's first democracy, which still endures. The family history of every Icelander is known. As a result, Iceland is the world's laboratory for the study of genetic diseases.

For more on Norway, see my family history web site: shellum.homestead.com/index.html