Sunday, May 4, 2014

Best Countries According to Corruption, Homicide Rate, World Citizenship, Health, Income Equality, Annual Work Hours, and more

I wanted an impartial look at which countries on earth are doing best at the factors that matter to me, so I looked up maps and tables for Income Equality, Corruption, Homicide Rate, World Citizenship, Healthy Average Life Expectancy, Annual Work Hours Per Worker, Abortion Rate, Capital Punishment Rate, Freedom, Economic Freedom. I chose the first of these factors because I thought it would be nice to live in a country where I had lots of free time in health and safety without listening to a lot of griping about the government and the rich.  I added more factors later, some of them by request. If you can think of important factors I omitted, please leave me a comment. Here are the numbers and the countries that are doing best on earth.

Summary

Northern Europe, Iceland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia do well on most measures, with top prize going to northern Europe, particularly Denmark and Switzerland.  Close behind Europe, Australia and Canada rank consistently well.  Bucking the agreement of every other measure, Northern Europe (with highly-ranked Switzerland and Spain not exactly northern in European terms) is not the winner for healthy life expectancy, which goes to more southern countries led by Singapore, Japan, Cyprus, and Australia.

Carrying the contest through measures added since I first made this post, the most consistent winners are Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark.  And an arbitrary long list of countries that significantly beat the USA includes Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, Spain, Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Iceland.  If I forgot a country please let me know.

Corruption

This graph is from Wikipedia.  Winners: Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Australia, Canada

Homicide Rate

This graph is from Wikipedia. Lightest blue countries have least homicides.  Winners: Spain and European corridor from Norway, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, to Italy

World Citizenship

The Good Country Index  calculates the good that countries do in the world.  The top 50 countries are listed below.
Overall Rankings Science and Technology Culture Int'l Peace and Security World Order Planet and Climate Prosperity and Equality Health and Wellbeing
1st Ireland 20 7 33 4 45 1 9
2nd Finland 7 18 53 12 14 3 12
3rd Switzerland 6 32 71 10 16 2 10
4th Netherlands 18 2 97 3 23 8 2
5th New Zealand 10 25 37 17 7 41 17
6th Sweden 8 14 111 8 3 4 8
7th United Kingdom 1 12 94 9 30 9 6
8th Norway 40 24 58 7 4 14 16
9th Denmark 14 9 88 5 26 35 5
10th Belgium 15 1 100 16 56 5 3
11th France 12 26 92 18 10 28 15
12th Canada 28 20 106 14 2 30 4
13th Germany 11 5 109 1 29 33 18
14th Austria 2 4 104 2 43 24 31
15th Australia 16 38 89 13 6 36 14
16th Luxembourg 55 10 101 19 12 19 13
17th Iceland 24 37 27 15 1 101 44
18th Cyprus 3 35 86 21 22 37 49
19th Spain 37 23 120 24 24 49 1
20th Italy 38 22 102 11 44 65 19
21st United States of America 26 41 114 28 39 53 7
22nd Costa Rica 61 64 35 25 19 42 76
23rd Malta 64 3 66 6 36 99 50
24th Chile 52 47 42 27 18 31 114
25th Japan 46 44 77 56 11 71 33
26th Kenya 47 84 20 48 98 16 28
27th Singapore 21 39 80 121 20 7 58
28th Slovenia 17 17 87 23 68 111 26
29th Guatemala 91 57 29 76 42 21 39
30th Greece 34 36 65 33 32 87 71
31st Colombia 57 83 43 107 15 29 29
32nd Bulgaria 19 27 79 36 80 70 55
33rd Panama 81 43 70 30 37 44 66
34th Estonia 31 6 107 80 66 66 21
35th Portugal 42 19 116 44 48 61 51
36th Mauritius 69 33 40 32 122 27 63
37th Israel 5 40 81 68 35 63 103
38th Ghana 59 62 12 71 72 6 115
39th Ecuador 105 79 10 39 38 90 38
40th Zambia 90 85 21 47 21 11 124
41st Uruguay 104 58 5 35 13 94 95
42nd Slovakia 43 21 110 49 51 69 62
43rd Czech Republic 4 8 121 34 77 100 67
44th South Africa 29 60 15 31 102 121 56
45th Jamaica 65 59 23 62 87 51 72
46th Croatia 35 30 62 73 52 85 84
47th Republic of Korea 30 34 119 45 71 60 65
48th Namibia 74 52 30 89 34 25 120
49th Brazil 75 49 83 37 5 123 52
50th Jordan 39 78 2 101 99 81 25

Healthy Average Life Expectancy

This data is for 2012 from WHO for both sexes.  Winners at top.
Singapore 76
Japan 75
Cyprus 74
Australia 73
Switzerland 73
Spain 73
Italy 73
Republic of Korea 73
San Marino 73
Andorra 72
Canada 72
France 72
Iceland 72
Israel 72
Luxembourg 72
Monaco 72
New Zealand 72
Sweden 72
Austria 71
Belgium 71
Germany 71
Finland 71
United Kingdom 71
Greece 71
Ireland 71
Malta 71
Netherlands 71
Norway 71
Portugal 71
Chile 70
Denmark 70
Slovenia 70
United States of America 70
Costa Rica 69
Czech Republic 69
Lebanon 69
Bosnia and Herzegovina 68
Brunei Darussalam 68
China 68
Colombia 68
Croatia 68
Kuwait 68
Qatar 68
Uruguay 68
United Arab Emirates 67
Argentina 67
Cuba 67
Estonia 67
Maldives 67
Mexico 67
Panama 67
Peru 67
Poland 67
Slovakia 67
Seychelles 67
Bulgaria 66
Bahrain 66
Barbados 66
Dominican Republic 66
Ecuador 66
Hungary 66
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 66
Montenegro 66
Nauru 66
Oman 66
Romania 66
Suriname 66
Thailand 66
Tunisia 66
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 66
Viet Nam 66
Albania 65
Georgia 65
Sri Lanka 65
Lithuania 65
Latvia 65
Mauritius 65
Paraguay 65
Saudi Arabia 65
Serbia 65
Turkey 65
Antigua and Barbuda 64
Bahamas 64
Belarus 64
Brazil 64
Cook Islands 64
Cabo Verde 64
Honduras 64
Iran (Islamic Republic of) 64
Jamaica 64
Jordan 64
Libya 64
Malaysia 64
Nicaragua 64
Niue 64
Samoa 64
Azerbaijan 63
Belize 63
Dominica 63
Grenada 63
Saint Kitts and Nevis 63
Saint Lucia 63
Republic of Moldova 63
El Salvador 63
Ukraine 63
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 63
Armenia 62
Algeria 62
Guatemala 62
Indonesia 62
Palau 62
Democratic People's Republic of Korea 62
Tonga 62
Vanuatu 62
Egypt 61
Iraq 61
Kyrgyzstan 61
Cambodia 61
Morocco 61
Russian Federation 61
Trinidad and Tobago 61
Uzbekistan 61
Bangladesh 60
Fiji 60
Micronesia (Federated States of) 60
Kazakhstan 60
Mongolia 60
Philippines 60
Tajikistan 60
Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 59
Bhutan 59
Marshall Islands 59
Nepal 59
Solomon Islands 59
Syrian Arab Republic 59
Kiribati 58
Tuvalu 58
India 57
Lao People's Democratic Republic 57
Myanmar 57
Namibia 57
Sao Tome and Principe 57
Timor-Leste 57
Pakistan 56
Turkmenistan 56
Ethiopia 55
Guyana 55
Madagascar 55
Rwanda 55
Senegal 55
Eritrea 54
Gabon 54
Ghana 54
Yemen 54
Botswana 53
Comoros 53
Gambia 53
Kenya 53
Mauritania 53
Papua New Guinea 53
Sudan 53
Djibouti 52
Haiti 52
Liberia 52
United Republic of Tanzania 52
South Africa 51
Benin 50
Burkina Faso 50
Congo 50
Malawi 50
Niger 50
Togo 50
Afghanistan 49
Guinea 49
Uganda 49
Zambia 49
Zimbabwe 49
Burundi 48
Cameroon 48
Mali 48
South Sudan 48
Guinea-Bissau 47
Equatorial Guinea 47
C?te d'Ivoire 46
Nigeria 46
Swaziland 46
Mozambique 45
Somalia 45
Angola 44
Democratic Republic of the Congo 44
Chad 44
Central African Republic 43
Lesotho 43
Sierra Leone 39

Annual Work Hours Per Worker

This data is from OECD.  Winners at top are all from northern Europe.


Netherlands 1381
Germany 1396.6
Norway 1419.7
France 1479
Ireland 1529
Denmark 1545.95
Belgium 1574
Luxembourg 1609
Sweden 1621
Slovenia 1640
Switzerland
United Kingdom 1654
Finland 1672
Spain 1686
Portugal 1691
Austria 1699
Iceland 1706.1
Canada 1710
Australia 1728
New Zealand 1739
Japan 1745.201
Italy 1752
OECD countries 1765.4884
Slovak Republic 1785
United States 1789.9219
Czech Republic 1800.2314
Turkey 1855.0575
Hungary 1888.45
Estonia 1889
Israel 1910
Poland 1929
Russian Federation 1982
Chile 2029
Greece 2033.9604
Korea
Mexico 2225.66

Abortion Rate

This data is from UN Data. I have done some followup research on the lower values at the top of this list, and many of them are not credible.  The value for Switzerland does seem to be a correct indication that Switzerland has a comparatively low abortion rate.  Most of our usual suspects don't do well by this measure, with many of them barely beating the USA.  That said, all of them do beat the USA on this list, with Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Finland, Japan, and Singapore doing best among usual suspects.

Country or Area Year Value
Poland 2004 0
Brazil 2003 0
Panama 2000 0
Mexico 2003 0.1
Portugal 2002 0.2
Qatar 2004 1.2
Austria 2001 1.3
India 2001 3.1
South Africa 2000 4.5
Greece 1999 5
Croatia 2004 5.7
Switzerland 2004 7.3
Belgium 2003 7.5
Germany 2004 7.8
Uzbekistan 2004 7.8
Spain 2003 8.3
Tunisia 1996 8.6
Azerbaijan 2004 9
Albania 2003 9.6
Netherlands 2004 10.4
Italy 2004 10.6
Bahrain 2002 11
Finland 2004 11.1
Slovakia 2005 11.7
Czech Republic 2005 12.2
Japan 2004 12.3
Singapore 2004 12.6
Tajikistan 2003 12.6
Armenia 2004 13.9
Israel 2004 13.9
Lithuania 2004 13.9
Iceland 2004 14.1
Denmark 2005 14.3
Norway 2005 15.2
Slovenia 2004 15.2
Canada 2003 15.2
Kyrgyzstan 2004 15.8
Dominican Republic 1998 16
France 2002 16.9
United Kingdom 2005 17
Republic of Moldova 2004 17.6
Macedonia 2001 18.4
Georgia 2005 19.1
New Zealand 2005 19.7
Australia 2003 19.7
Sweden 2005 20.2
United States of America 2003 20.8
Bulgaria 2003 21.3
Seychelles 2003 21.6
Mongolia 1997 21.7
Hungary 2005 23.4
China 1998 24.2
Cuba 2004 24.8
Latvia 2004 27.3
Ukraine 2004 27.5
Romania 2004 27.8
Belarus 2004 31.7
Estonia 2005 33.3
Kazakhstan 2004 35
Vietnam 2000 35.2
Russian Federation 2004 53.7

Capital Punishment Rate

Capital punishment is a little different than the other categories since most of the civilized world has stopped executing criminals. This graph is from Wikipedia.  The blue countries have abolished it.  The green and brown countries have generally stopped the practice.  The red countries retain the practice.  Winners include the usual suspects.

Freedom

Freedom is also a little different, since it is subjective.  Freedom House rates countries as Free, Partly Free, and Not Free.  This graph came from Wikipedia.  Winners again include the usual suspects, and USA is among the free countries.


Economic Freedom

This graph is from Wikipedia.  Economic freedom is a little more competitive, with only Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Singapore getting top marks among the usual suspects.  Hong Kong also gets top marks. And Denmark barely misses the cut (see table in referenced article).  



Income Equality

This graph is from Wikipedia.  Winners: Northern Europe and Kazakhstan


The end for now.
Tom

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Monaco and other city states deserve a higher status IMO.

Cost of living ought to be given more consideration as well, Denmark and Switzerland are very expensive places to live.

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_current.jsp

Thomas Gail Haws said...

Small is good. I hope to make sure I did not overlook those in my browsing.

I think annual hours worked is a better indicator for what I assume you care about than "cost of living". Denmark and Switzerland are comparatively admirable for annual hours worked.