See here an interesting study:
“194 Countries Ranked and Rated to Reveal the Best Places to Live”
Every January, we rank and rate 194 countries to come up with our list of the places that offer you the best quality of life. This isn’t about best value, necessarily. It’s about the places in the world where the living is, simply put, great.
By the Staff of International Living
See here for all details:
http://www.internationalliving.com/Internal-Components/Further-Resources/quality-of-life-2010
See attached a pdf I made with an overview, including one where you can see the rankings – the website does not show this.
2010qualityoflife.pdf
And… surprisingly Belgium makes the top 10 after the USA, see their comments:
Belgium: number 8
Divided into Flemish-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia, Belgium also boasts high scores. Since medieval times, its merchant cities have prospered. The capital, Brussels, grabs most attention, but Bruges and Antwerp (famed for diamond trading) also flaunt stepped-gable houses and splendid guildhalls.
Employing thousands of foreign staff, Brussels is the headquarters of the European Union and NATO. A dreary place of paper-shuffling bureaucrats? Not at all.
Ringed with parks, it’s Europe’s greenest capital. Along with many international schools, it delivers all an expat could desire: theater, English-language cinema, sports centers, great public transport, Trappist-brewed beers, numerous gourmet and ethnic restaurants, and fast trains to London, Paris, and Amsterdam. As they rarely plan to stay, most expats rent. In central Brussels, one-bedroom apartments start at $740 monthly.
Like its delectable chocolates, Brussels has a soft-centered heart. The municipality not only sterilizes stray cats, it appoints someone to feed them. Its main library offers storytelling in sign language for deaf children. And disadvantaged citizens can attend cultural events at hefty discounts.
China is ranked 97. Maybe a bit unfair but looking at the detailed score… talking about freedom…
Obviously, every study has its own angle and one can argue about it. Like, why I’m in Beijing and not in Brussels. (Kidding, right?!)