Cyprus beats UK in quality of life index

CYPRUS has been ranked 23rd in a list of the most desirable places in the world to live in 2005.

Ireland is easily the best country to live on the planet, and Zimbabwe the worst, according to the list, published in The Economist.

Based on a “quality of life” index for 111 countries devised by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Cyprus scored 7.10 out of 10, just behind Greece and comfortably ahead of Britain, which languishes in 29th position.

America, despite being the second richest country in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per head, was ranked only 13 in terms of quality of life.

Laza Kekic, director of country forecasting services for the EIU said the list was based on a new approach using life-satisfaction surveys (compiling the average scores for 74 countries) as a starting point for assessing the main factors determining quality of life.

While income inevitably topped the charts in terms of quality of life, other important factors listed included health, freedom, unemployment, climate, political stability, as well as security, gender, equality and family and community life. These factors were then measured using forecasts for 2005 in combination with the latest statistics for aspects that are slower-changing, such as family life and political freedom.

“Ireland wins because it successfully combines the most desirable elements of the new (the fourth-highest GDP per head in the world in 2005, low unemployment, political liberties) with the preservation of certain cosy elements of the old, such as stable family life,” Kekic writes.

Britain fared a much poorer 29th because a high income per head is offset by high levels of social and family breakdown – putting the UK at the bottom of the pile among the 15 countries of the pre-enlarged European Union.

Despite burgeoning development China was ranked at 60, while Russia came a lowly 95th position. Zimbabweans, under the leadership of Robert Mugabe’s, have the least desirable quality of life according to the index.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.