I’ve just read an article on CNN that France has been voted as being the best place in the world to live according to International Living magazine.
I wonder how they can vote an entire country as being the best place to live? Yes, the article highlights some of the advantages of living in France such as the excellent healthcare system, the skiing and the beaches, the food and the wine and lots of paid holiday for workers, but surely that is not the be all and end all?
How about high unemployment, high taxes and social security charges, the fact the French have one of the highest levels of consumption of anti-depressants (sorry, can’t write in English today, its all coming out Frenchiefied!) and bureaucracy?
I have a love hate relationship with France. I do love living here but would I not love living in another country as well? I can’t say that the reasons I love living here are because its France. I could ski, eat cheese and drink wine in Switzerland and yet benefit from lower taxes at the same time. So why France?
Well, it did say that France has it’s problems as well. I don’t know, I’ve been to a lot of other European countries, but can’t imagine living in any of them. It’s probably different if you prefer town our country as well – Switzerland tends to have all the industry on the flat bits – I like the wide open spaces here. The bureaucracy is just about the only thing I don’t like, but at least now they have the auto-entrepreneur scheme it’s easier to earn a living. I don’t know the figures for unemployment, but I should think it’s pretty similar across Europe.
Probably the highest consumption of anti-depressants because the doctors hand out drugs so readily.
I’m not surprised that the UK is 25th though
I’m not surprised the UK is so low in the ratings, I’m so glad I escaped!! I’m not surprised France is high either, but was just surprised that they got number 1.
I live in the city and I’m beginning to think I’d prefer the countryside… You know, sometimes I don’t feel as if I belong anywhere and I get itchy feet, always wanting to move. It may also be because I’ve never known anything different from France that I’ve become so blasé about it. I came here to Lyon when I was 16 and aside from a short spell back in the UK for 4 years I’ve never lived anywhere else.
You say you can’t imagine living in the other European countries you’ve visited, are there specific reason or does France just have some kind of magic that draws you to it and makes you feel happy/comfortable here?
ps. Yes! The Swiss do produce wine although I’ve never tasted it personally I am told its pretty good in the Valais area: http://www.wine.ch/page11e.htm
pps. Any more snow lately?
Yes, we’ve got about 3″ of snow
I want spring to arrive now!
I think probably France is high for Brits as more people learn French at school. I taught myself a bit of Czech, and though I love the country, it can be a bit depressing (I see they’re 24th
). France just feels like the least crowded country somehow. My experiences of Switzerland is that you never know which language to speak – I do remember a waitress in a hotel once saying to someone “kommen Sie hier, toute suite!”.
I think I chose France as it was the country I’d been to most, loved the countryside, and had an ‘o’ level in the language – thankfully it’s improved a bit now. I have no regrets, our neighbours are fantastic. Though we’ve only been here 6 years, I just can’t imagine living anywhere else now – it’s home. Maybe having the animals, haymaking every year and stuff like that helps. I know some others don’t manage to integrate enough for it to feel like home, and probably don’t have enough to occupy them – maybe it’s down to how much you rely on other people – I’m independent and happy with my own company.
My OH came from Oz – I see that’s second on the list, but he wouldn’t go back there either. I don’t think there’s any real recipe for what makes one country better than another, it’s an individual perception – true or not
Wow, that’s long enough to be a blog post!
Do the Swiss make wine?
Switzerland came out quite high so my comments don’t seem very valid, perhaps I’ve become used to the good life?
Top 25 countries to live in:
1. France
2. Australia
3. Switzerland
4. Germany
5. New Zealand
6. Luxembourg
7. United States
8. Belgium
9. Canada
10. Italy
11. Netherlands
12. Norway
13. Austria
14. Liechtenstein
15. Malta
16. Denmark
17. Spain
18. Finland
19. Uruguay
20. Hungary
21. Portugal
22. Lithuania
23. Andorra
24. Czech Republic
25. United Kingdom
How can they vote France as being the best place to live?
The magazine who concocted the “Quality of Life Index” results, openly admit they were biased and state:
“For every category, we had to make decisions. And, when the numbers our research returned seemed incredible to us…we favored our own experience over published government statistics”
Basically, you can massage statistics, within reason, to favor your own particular bias.
They also admit they were influenced by a “western bias” and had “preconceived ideas” as to what constitutes anything from cost of living, culture, entertainment to climate etc.
I feel that because their findings were based on subjective
rather than objective results, it cannot be taken seriously. For example, I live in Portugal which is ranked at 21, Hungary is ranked above Portugal. Strange but true!
So can this Quality of Life Index actually be taken seriously?
You have to wonder what motivated the “research” to deem France as the top place and the others that follow behind. Is it political, economical? What stake does the magazine have in it, the editor-in-chief?
I grew up in a place that was said to be the best city in the US to live for many years. I did not agree!
Good point Lydia; how anyone can define that somewhere is the BEST place to live is so subjective and we must remember that when reading articles such as this one!