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Canada No. 1


Luv2play

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Awesome!

While I do think that Canada is one of the best countries in the world, I have my doubts about the ranking itself.

Japan 2nd? With so much stress, and racism?

Australia and UK? Really? Some of the most systematically racist countries in the world.

The United States with the current Public Health and Safety concerns?

 

I like the UN HDI better but even there I see Norway, with its latent racial conflicts.

And Australia again makes it to this Top 10. One thing is published official data, reality can be different. Covid showed us that.

Edited by lonely_john
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If you have money, US is great. It's when you're of modest means it drops in the rankings.

True to a great extent. Ranking countries is a little meaningless because it depends on what you value. The survey seemed to look at "agility, power, social purpose, women's experience, forward-looking, and racial equality," but seems to leave out some very important factors related to life enjoyment such as climate, scenic beauty, and liberty. Canada does have a health care and social safety net system that's better than the US's, for the most part, but it seems silly to overlook the fact that the climate is pretty awful 7-8 months of the year. One certainly has to factor in having to shovel snow to get out of one's driveway 6 months of the year, not to mention having to walk around and try to drive on snow and ice. Regardless of the ease of access to medical care, I really wouldn't want to live in Canada or the Nordic countries year-round. Most Canadians and residents of Nordic countries who can afford to do otherwise don't, either.

There are certainly many beautiful parts of Canada, but I don't think it can compare to the breadth and depth of beauty one can find in the US. If I wanted to live in a country with an easier healthcare system and a somewhat cooler climate, I'd much prefer living in Switzerland. In Geneva, the coldest month, January, has an average high of 4.5C, and snow is rare outside of December-February.

China has a lot of scenic beauty (one of the few countries that can hold a candle to the US with respect to depth and breadth of beauty, and to the variety of climates), but obviously comes at the cost of a highly oppressive government. If I couldn't live in the US, I feel I could probably be happy living in Australia, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, or Chile. I think I could probably be OK living in Vancouver or Victoria. But I personally would probably prefer to blow my brains out than live in any other city in Canada. Just me.

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I don't how great South Africa is these days, even for the rich.

South Africa is another country I think I could make myself happy in. But would probably need to have enough money to live in a gated community near Cape Town. The climate is pleasant, the area scenic, good wines, no dengue or malaria....

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True to a great extent. Ranking countries is a little meaningless because it depends on what you value. The survey seemed to look at "agility, power, social purpose, women's experience, forward-looking, and racial equality," but seems to leave out some very important factors related to life enjoyment such as climate, scenic beauty, and liberty. Canada does have a health care and social safety net system that's better than the US's, for the most part, but it seems silly to overlook the fact that the climate is pretty awful 7-8 months of the year. One certainly has to factor in having to shovel snow to get out of one's driveway 6 months of the year, not to mention having to walk around and try to drive on snow and ice. Regardless of the ease of access to medical care, I really wouldn't want to live in Canada or the Nordic countries year-round. Most Canadians and residents of Nordic countries who can afford to do otherwise don't, either.

There are certainly many beautiful parts of Canada, but I don't think it can compare to the breadth and depth of beauty one can find in the US. If I wanted to live in a country with an easier healthcare system and a somewhat cooler climate, I'd much prefer living in Switzerland. In Geneva, the coldest month, January, has an average high of 4.5C, and snow is rare outside of December-February.

China has a lot of scenic beauty (one of the few countries that can hold a candle to the US with respect to depth and breadth of beauty, and to the variety of climates), but obviously comes at the cost of a highly oppressive government. If I couldn't live in the US, I feel I could probably be happy living in Australia, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, or Chile. I think I could probably be OK living in Vancouver or Victoria. But I personally would probably prefer to blow my brains out than live in any other city in Canada. Just me.

I think your comments contain certain exaggerations. For instance, awful climate for 7 to 8 months does apply to Labrador (I worked there as a student one year) but not to Southern Ontario or Quebec, where 90 percent of the population of those provinces live.

 

We aren’t shovelling snow 6 months of the year. This winter we had exactly 3 storms that required that (3 mornings). I have been eating my evening meal in my back yard gazebo since early April ( including this evening where I am currently writing this). The weather has been hitting highs of around 70F most days this month and during a week in late March.

 

On the other hand we have extremely pleasant summers and only a few days when we are driven to air conditioning. Many parts of the US are becoming insufferable in the summer without retreating indoors. And climate change is occurring faster than many anticipated. Canada will at least be spared for a few decades longer.

 

I remember when I spent my winters in Florida talking to people from the Northern US states who said, like you, they wouldn’t go back to live in the North. This included Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo and other cities that experience much the same climate as major Canadian cities.

 

Having lived in Europe ( Geneva specifically) and spent time on four continents, I have experienced beautiful natural and man made surroundings in many places. But for living in a tolerant, well educated, civilized and peaceful country, I’ll take Canada any day.

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They must be doing something r

I'm not surprised about Canada being first but Japan 2nd?

 

8. United Kingson ?

 

They must be doing something right. They enjoy a very high standard of living, are very well educated, have great health care and live longer than almost any other nationality. Very homogenous population however, which makes it rather uninteresting.

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They must be doing something right. They enjoy a very high standard of living, are very well educated, have great health care and live longer than almost any other nationality. Very homogenous population however, which makes it rather uninteresting.

 

I'm sure but they're doing something right, but they're a country in stagnation, no social mobility, they don't recognize their "mistakes" just a few generations ago, crowded and expensive housing, etc. Great healthcare? They walk every day, eat a lot of fish (whale) and everything in small portions, therefore they live longer and healthier. It's not rocket science!

 

Uninteresting, you said it all.

 

Congratulations to all Canadians in this forum!

 

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I would be willing to bet that the survey was taken before the Canadian covid19 vaccination fiasco. Canada has done a terrible job getting its citizens vaccinated. Because of poor national government planning the various vaccines are in short supply. Canada has no firms capable of manufacturing the vaccines in the country and thus must compete on the open international market and take whatever vaccine it can get, whenever it can get it.

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I would be willing to bet that the survey was taken before the Canadian covid19 vaccination fiasco. Canada has done a terrible job getting its citizens vaccinated. Because of poor national government planning the various vaccines are in short supply. Canada has no firms capable of manufacturing the vaccines in the country and thus must compete on the open international market and take whatever vaccine it can get, whenever it can get it.

Actually while we had a bad start with the vaccination rollout because of supply issues, we are now third in the G7 countries after the UK and US. The planning by the federal government had to deal with the fact we had no domestic supplier capable of manufacturing the dosages required.

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