Finland vs. France as the best place to live

One study By Matthew E. Kahn, PhD, and Fran Lostys rated Finland as the best place to live. See Living Green in Reader's Digest. The top 5 countries to live in (with an emphasis on environmental factors) were:

1. Finland
2. Iceland
3. Norway
4. Sweden
5. Austria

An altogether different list was compiled by International Living, which for the second year in a row ranked France as the best place to live. Below are the top 20 countries as ranked by International living (actual list in Brazil Magazine) and some quotes from the article explaining France's position:

1. France
2. Australia
3. Netherlands
4. New Zealand
5. United States
6. Switzerland
7. Denmark
8. Italy
9. Luxembourg
10. Argentina
11. Norway
12. Belgium
13. Germany
14. Spain
15. Austria
16. Finland
17. Malta
18. Croatia
19. Liechtenstein
20. Portugal

1. France's infrastructure is among the best in the world (it ranks fifth in this category with a score of 77 out of a possible 100).


2. According to the World Health Organization France has the best overall health care system in the world. Life expectancy now averages 83 years for women and 76 for men.


3. Paris is not cheap (a recent report by Mercer Consulting reports that this city is the 15th most expensive in the world), but, outside the capital, you'll find the cost of living lower and the choice of properties selling for less than $100,000 impressive.


4. Yet, despite France's long tradition of state involvement in the economy, successive recent governments, both left and right, have been striving to create the kind of pro-business environment sought by international investors.