Bhutan: Best place to live in South Asia
Bhutan has risen 11 places to 75th best country in the world to live in, according to the Quality of Life Index, published by a travel magazine, International Living. Bhutan continues to lead in South Asia followed by India in 88th position among 194 countries.
France continues to be the world’s best country to live in for the fourth consecutive year with the score of 82 points while the war-ravaged and impoverished Somalia stand at the bottom with 30 points. International Living with its head offices in Ireland and Maryland has been publishing the Quality of Life Index for the last 30 years annually.
It ranks 194 countries in nine different categories: cost of living, culture and leisure, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, safety and risk, and climate.
In 2008, Bhutan was ranked 105th with a score of 54 points. 2009 saw it rise to 86th position with a score of 56 points which improved to 75th position with 61 score this year. There were small improvements in most categories but it gained 17 points in freedom and nine points in infrastructure from the previous year.
United States is the base country for the report scoring 78 points and is placed at seventh position. Bhutan scored 21 points more than the US in environment with 83 points to 62. It also scored 24 points more in the cost of living with 80 points to 56. According to the magazine, “The figures relate to how much it costs one to live in a style comparable to or better than the standard of living you’re likely enjoying in the US.”
Among the other South Asian countries, the Maldives is placed at 100th position followed by Sri Lanka at 121st slipping from 109 in 2009.
Nepal stood at 127th, Bangladesh at 145th and Pakistan at 178th places among 194 countries.
Source: bhutanobserver