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Dubliners
have reason to be cheerful, the survey
finds. | |
Ireland is the best place to live in the world,
according to a "quality of life" assessment by Economist magazine.
The country's combination of increasing wealth and traditional values
gives it the conditions most likely to make its people happy, the survey
found.
Ireland was followed by Switzerland, Norway and Luxembourg. All but one
of the top 10 were European countries.
The USA languished in 13th,
while Britain was 29th - the lowest of the pre-expansion EU nations.
The survey was prepared for the Economist's "World in 2005"
publication, with the remit: "Where will be the best place to live in
2005?"
Researchers took into account not just income, but other factors
considered important to people's satisfaction and well-being.
They included health, freedom, unemployment, family life, climate,
political stability and security, gender equality and family and community
life.
The Economist said: "Ireland wins because it successfully combines the
most desirable elements of the new, such as low unemployment and political
liberties, with the preservation of certain cosy elements of the old, such as
stable family and community life."
The magazine admits that measuring quality of life is not a straightforward thing to do, and
that its findings will have their critics - "except, of course, in
Ireland".
The Republic has made significant gains from its membership of the EU,
earning the soubriquet Celtic
Tiger for its economic progress.
Commentators say it is widely admired by the EU's newest members, and
has become a model for what they hope to achieve.
Although European nations generally do well in the survey, the
continent's major industrial powers of France, Germany and Britain finish
25th, 26th and 29th respectively.
The researchers said although the UK achieved high income per head, it
had high levels of social and family breakdown.
The worst of the 111 countries to live in was considered to be
Zimbabwe, "where things have gone from bad to worse under [President]
Robert Mugabe".
'TOP TEN COUNTRIES'
1 Ireland
2 Switzerland
3 Norway
4
Luxembourg
5 Sweden
6 Australia
7 Iceland
8 Italy
9
Denmark
10 Spain
(Agencies) |
英國(guó)《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家》雜志關(guān)于“生活質(zhì)量”的一份評(píng)估報(bào)告顯示，愛爾蘭是世界上最適宜居住的地方。
調(diào)查表明，愛爾蘭能夠?qū)⒉粩嘣鲩L(zhǎng)的財(cái)富和傳統(tǒng)價(jià)值融為一體，因此生活在那里的人們更容易感到快樂。
排在愛爾蘭之后的依次是瑞士、挪威和盧森堡。在排名前十的國(guó)家中，有九個(gè)是歐洲國(guó)家。
美國(guó)退到了第13位，而英國(guó)僅列第29位，是歐盟東擴(kuò)之前的成員國(guó)中排名最靠后的。
這份調(diào)查是為《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家》雜志的出版物《2005年的世界》精心策劃的，選題是“2005年世界上最適合居住的地方是哪里？”
研究者們不僅將（居民的）收入情況列入考慮范圍，還參考了其他一些被認(rèn)為對(duì)人們的滿意度和幸福感有重要影響的因素。
這些因素包括健康、自由、失業(yè)、家庭生活、氣候、政治穩(wěn)定性和安全性、男女平等、以及家庭和社會(huì)生活。
《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家》雜志指出：“愛爾蘭之所以取勝，是因?yàn)樗晒Φ貙⑿聲r(shí)代最誘人的事物（如低失業(yè)率和政治自由）和某些舒適安逸的舊式生活元素相結(jié)合，比如穩(wěn)定的家庭和社會(huì)生活。”
該雜志承認(rèn)，衡量生活質(zhì)量并不是一件簡(jiǎn)單的事，他們的調(diào)查結(jié)果必定會(huì)受到外界的批評(píng)——“當(dāng)然，在愛爾蘭例外”。
愛爾蘭共和國(guó)從它的歐盟成員國(guó)身份中獲益匪淺，并憑借經(jīng)濟(jì)的快速增長(zhǎng)獲得了“凱爾特之虎”的稱號(hào)。
評(píng)論員稱，愛爾蘭得到了歐盟新成員的普遍欽佩和羨慕，成了它們的榜樣。
盡管歐洲國(guó)家在這次調(diào)查中總體表現(xiàn)良好，但法國(guó)、德國(guó)和英國(guó)等歐洲大陸的主要工業(yè)國(guó)分別僅排到第25、26和29位。
研究者說，盡管英國(guó)的人均收入水平較高，但英國(guó)社會(huì)和家庭關(guān)系的破裂程度也很高。
在受調(diào)查的111個(gè)國(guó)家中，津巴布韋被評(píng)為最不適宜居住的地方，“在總統(tǒng)羅伯特·穆加貝的統(tǒng)治下，情況變得越來越糟糕”。
排名前十位的最適宜居住的國(guó)家：
1 愛爾蘭
2 瑞士
3 挪威
4 盧森堡
5 瑞典
6 澳大利亞
7 冰島
8
意大利
9 丹麥
10 西班牙
（中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站譯） |
Updated: 2004-11-22 17:28