Israel: the 18th best place in the world to live
Photo: Shuttershock
Israel ranks as 18th best place in the world to live
The UN's Human Development index has ranked Israel in 18th place for its list of the best countries in the world to live, putting it ahead of Japan, Italy, France and Austria. Norway came first, as it has done in 13 out of the last 15 years. But which country is the worst?
Norway has again been ranked as the best place in the world to live, according to the United Nations' Human Development Index (HDI) for 2015.
And if it seems to you that Israelis have to deal with high rent prices, excessive taxes and raging violence, the index that we still have it better than most countries in the world, coming in at 18th place.
The UN's Human Development Index has ranked Israel the 18th best place in the world to live (Photo: Shutterstock)
The HDI, which is published every year, ranks 188 countries according to their average life expectancy, education and Gross National Product per capita. Not surprisingly, the top 10 countries are all in the West.
Norway came first for the seventh year in a row and has in fact been the top-ranked country every year since 2001, save for in 2007 and 2008. For those two years, Iceland took top spot.
A fjord in Norway. The Scandinavian country has kept its spot as the best place to live according to the UN HDI. (Photo: AP)
Israel, meanwhile, has gone up one place since last year, having come in 19th in 2014. In 2013, Israel was in 16th place.
Rounding out the top 10 were Australia in second place, Switzerland third, Denmark fourth, the Netherlands fifth, Germany sixth, Ireland seventh, the US eighth, and Canada and New Zealand tied in ninth place.
Meanwhile, Niger was ranked the worst place to live. The bottom five countries were completed by the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Chad and Burundi.
