News in the Algarve

 

 

 Reproduced from 'The Portugal News, Portugal's National Newspaper in English'.

 

 


 

 

Good to Live Here.... Portugal has been rated as one of the best places to live, according to a ranking published earlier this week. Using a range of environmental and social indicators, partly extracted from the United Nations' Human Development Index, the survey, published by Reader's Digest, rated nations on how they care for the environment and the quality of life their citizens enjoy and under which they can prosper.

 

Portugal is the 18th best country in which to live out of a list of 141 countries surveyed to establish the quality of living they provide to their respective populations. Topping the list is Finland, followed by Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

The top ten is completed by Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Australia, Uruguay and Denmark.

Portugal is placed after the Netherlands and France, but is ahead of Germany (21st), the United States (23rd), Britain (25th), Belgium (26th) and Spain (29th).

At the bottom of the list is Ethiopia, preceded by Niger, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso and Chad.

The ranking combines environmental factors, such as air and water quality, respect for biodiversity and greenhouse-gas emissions, as well as social factors, such as gross domestic product, access to education, unemployment rate and life expectancy.

Separately, Swedish capital Stockholm is rated the best city to live in followed by Oslo (Norway), Munich (Germany), Paris (France), Frankfurt and Stuttgart (Germany), Lyon (France), Dusseldorf (Germany), Nantes (France) and Copenhagen (Denmark).

Cities were rated according to quality of public transport, parks, air and water quality, electricity costs and waste recycling.