Sweden climbs in global prosperity ranking
Published: 31 Oct 12 08:12 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/44144/20121031/
Sweden has risen to be the third most prosperous country in the world, joining its Scandinavian neighbours atop an annual ranking of countries according to wealth and well-being.
- IMF hails Sweden's crisis management skills (9 Oct 12)
- Swedish medical uni ranked best in the region (5 Oct 12)
- Sweden world's second 'most innovative' country (3 Jul 12)
Norway, meanwhile, maintained its hold on the number one spot, while Denmark came in second.
Published annually for the last six years, the Prosperity Index ranks 142 countries based on criteria in eight categories including economic strength, health, education and governance.
In the 2012 ranking, Sweden received highest marks in the "Entrepreneurship and Opportunity" sub-index, ranking second overall on the strength of low business start-up costs, high mobile phone penetration, and a high percentage of people who believe they will get ahead with hard work.
According to Legatum Institute CEO Jeffrey Gedmin, the index creates a "comprehensive picture of what makes a country truly successful, encompassing traditional measures of material wealth, as well as capturing citizens’ sense of well-being".
"GDP alone can never offer a complete view of prosperity," he said in a statement.
According to Gedmin, successful countries combine "social responsibility with personal freedom".
Despite continuing economic concerns in Europe, European countries dominated the top ten.
The United States, meanwhile, dropped out of the Prosperity Index top ten for the first time, dropping to twelfth place at what Gedmin called a "pivotal time" as the 2012 presidential elections draw closer.
“As the US struggles to reclaim the building blocks of the American Dream, now is a good time to consider who is best placed to lead the country back to prosperity and compete with the more agile countries that have pushed the US out of the top ten," he said.
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Sweden is dubbelplusbra:
*Propaganda* is news. Coercion is law. Torture is healthcare.
The US does the same, with the only difference that nobody takes them seriously anymore and the only reason why nobody calls them what they are, a disastrous and bankrupt joke of what they used to be, is because they have a tendency to bomb people who disagree with their agenda.
Swedes pay more for products that are inferior, they pay more regressive taxes (i.e. energy taxes of nearly 2/3 of the product) than almost any otehr nation and while one can take the family out to Pizza Hut in the USA without any sense of busting the budget that is not true for this nation.
Sweden is a legend in its own eyes. Sad part is that the only people who believe it are ethnic Swedes who have never really spent time in any otehr western nation and believe the lies of the Swedish media.
Is Sweden perfect? No, of course it isn't. If it were, 7 billion people would live here and then it would suck beyond all belief. Is anywhere perfect? No, of course not. Switzerland is fantastic, but it's not perfect. Cyprus is great, but it's not perfect. Even Florida's good for a holiday, but ye gods it most certainly ain't perfect!
Is Sweden a fine place to live, if you can put up with the long winters? In my opinion, yes, it is. And I speak as someone who drove a Porsche in the UK and doesn't even own a car here in Sweden today, at least partly for financial reasons, so I don't think anyone would consider me elitist anywhere in Scandinavia, even if I perhaps used to be.
As for the USA, I call it The Land of the Nothing for Free; former home of the braves.