Newspeak magazine: Finland world's best country [Archive] - The Apricity Forum: A European Cultural Community

Eldritch

08-16-2010, 07:27 PM

"Interactive infographic". (http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/15/interactive-infographic-of-the-worlds-best-countries.html)

Newsweek magazine has ranked living conditions in 100 countries around the world. In the magazine’s analysis, Finland was judged to be the best.

The analysis examined factors such as education and health care, quality of life, economic dynamism, and political environment.

Finishing after Finland were Switzerland and Sweden. The United States was in 11th place. The final three were the African nations Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Cameroon.

The analysis of educational systems used factors such as the international PISA studies, as well as measures of efficiency and the educational level of the population at large. In this, Finland was in first place, followed by South Korea and Canada, which were in a tie.

Finland’s lowest marks were in health care, in which it came in 17th. The ranking was based on a World Health Organisation comparison examining how many years an average citizen could expect to live a full-blown life without being burdened by illness or disability. The top three were Japan, Switzerland and Sweden.

A number of factors were considered in assessing quality of life. These included gender equality, the percentage of people living in poverty, the equality of wealth distribution, the suicide rate, the state of the environment, and the proportion of employed people in the population. In this, Finland was in fourth place, with Norway, Switzerland, and Luxembourg coming ahead.

Economic dynamism was gauged on the basis of GDP growth, the proportion of services and industrial output in GDP, innovations, the ease with which new companies can reach the market, and the scope of the stock market. In this Finland was eighth, with Singapore, the USA and South Korea as the top three.

The quality of the political was gauged through a comparison of democratic freedom, the proportion of citizens involved in elections, and political stability. Finland ranked fifth, trailing Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, and New Zealand.

Motörhead Remember Me

09-01-2010, 11:16 AM

This Newsweek ranking should not be a surprise.

Already in 2007, the Reader's Digest magazine ranked Finland as the worlds best country to live in. That study was conducted by U.S. environmental economist Matthew Kahn, who looked at issues such as quality of drinking water and greenhouse gas emissions as well as factors such as education and income.

And in 2009 the Legatum Institute ranked Finland in its global "Prosperity Index" as the best country to live in. The Institute said:

"The most prosperous nations in the world are not necessarily those that have only a high GDP, but are those that also have happy, healthy, and free citizens."

Links:
http://www.gadling.com/2007/10/08/finland-names-best-place-to-live/
http://www.economist.com/blogs/lexington/2009/10/which_country_is_the_most_pros

The people making these studies are heavily impressed by the Finnish education system, as can be read in this Washington Post article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/05/AR2005080502015.html

But of course, no nation is a haven. Finns can also be very critical and dig up not so flattering statistics as well. A Finnish reader posted the below in the Iltalehti talkforum, to point out that even Finland has it's problems:

Dear Mrs Julie MacIntosh, Dear Dr. William Inboden Dr. Ryan Streeter

Thank you very much, regarding the article of your brilliant survey:
Finland tops global prosperity index (2009LegatumProsperityIndexReport.pdf)

Written by Julie MacIntosh in New York
Published: FT | October 26 2009 01:30 | Last updated: October 26 2009 01:30

Finland is the world’s most prosperous nation, not only in monetary matters, but in the quality of its democracy and governance, according to the latest Prosperity Index, to be launched by Legatum, the London-based think-tank, this week.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/54fd57dc-c...nclick_check=1
info@legatum.com
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Regarding a huge surprised response in Finnish media discussions of your survey "Finland tops global prosperity index."
There must be some serious errors on the conclusions of the survey.
We are more than surprised of your results, and we are many.

There is a readers voting online at the biggest daily magazine in Finland, Iltalehti, (Eveningpost).
Total amount of voters is now 12756, which 14% of all voters agrees, and 86% of voters do not agree the result of your survey.
http://www.iltalehti.fi/talous/20091...90783_ta.shtml

Please, gentlemen, get familiar to this information provided below for your convenience and think twice.
I say, to avoiding your survey to be treated as a insult against finnish poor people.
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Poverty is increasing in Finland. Today, more than 700,000 people in Finland live in poverty.
About 20 % of the population get under 700 euros per month.
The poverty line in Finland is not officially defined. But Jouko Karjalainen, a researcher at the National Institute for Health and Welfare, says those who earn less than 1,100 euros a month, or 13,000 euros a year, could be considered poor.
A few years ago, some 600,000 people in Finland could be defined as poor. Now the number stands at over 700,000
http ://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/09/number_of_poor_in_finland_passes_700000_977120.htm l#

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Unemployment rate is about from 10 % to 16 %, depending of the survey makers interests.
Unemployment by Statistics Finland
Unemployment rate in June 2,3 percentage points higher than one year previously
http://www.stat.fi/til/tyti/2009/06/...ie_001_en.html
graphics:
http://www.ek.fi/ek_suomeksi/suhdann.../pdf/tyot1.pdf

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Our people, specially those who are out of working life and salary incomes, are starving.
EU is providing to us tons of support food every week.
There are long bread cueues, thousands of poors, waiting two times per week food in Helsinki at several outlets.
Last year EU food aid was taken by a total of 350,000 underprivileged people in Finland.
The most recent statistics have not been completed yet, but reports from various parts of the country indicate that the food queues are growing longer.
Reasons for the increased need of food aid include rising unemployment, illnesses, excessive debt, single parenting, or small pensions. Higher food prices have also contributed to the number of people standing in bread-lines.
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Man.../1135244889950

Staple commodities to the underprivileged
In 2008, the value of EU food aid distributed in Finland was EUR 2.6 million, while this year the sum is EUR 3.7 million. The EU food bag contains staple commodities, including milk powder, crispbread, wheat flour, special flour for rolls, macaroni, and oatmeal.
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/FAC.../1135244891127

Poorness is flowering. Köyhyys kukoistaa (in finnish).(Photo from a bread cueue in Hakaniemi Square Market in Helsinki. 19.1.2009 12:37)
http://www.iltalehti.fi/uutiset/2009...38312_uu.shtml
Food cueues (in finnish)
http://www.outialanko.fi/index.php?p=English
Tunteet kuumenevat Hyvän arjen ruokajonossa (Heated feelings in bread cueue) (in finnish)
http://www.lansivayla.fi/Uutiset/Jut...-ruokajonossa#

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Our infrastructure, roads and railways are kept on the same maintenance level since 20 years.
Finland is investing less to to roads and railways, than any other Nordic Country. (in finnish)
http://www.taloussanomat.fi/uutiset/...a/200916825/12

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Consumers purchasing power is among the lowest in whole European Union.
According several Europe wide researches, purchasing power of finnish people have been several yers the lowes among other EU countries.
For example, German people have had since 2 years about 1.5 times better buying power than Finnish.
http://www.mtv3.fi/uutiset/kotimaa.s...2007/04/519637

Low purchasing power for the highly educated in Finland
http://www.finlandforthought.net/200...ed-in-finland/

International price comparison by Statistics Finland
http://www.stat.fi/meta/til/kvhv_en.html

Key figures of Finnish economy
http://www.veronmaksajat.fi/fi-FI/tu...ntunnuslukuja/

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Total income taxation level is about 43,1%. (By official Taxpayers Association, Veronmaksajain Keskusliitto ry)
http://www.veronmaksajat.fi/fi-FI/tu...kuja/veroaste/
Salary taxation
http://www.worldwide-tax.com/finland/finland_tax.asp

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Suisides:
In Finland we have more suidides than any other Nordic country.
In statistics we are at 15th position of the worst nations in the World.
Finland: 2007 Suicides 1/3 Fewer than in 1990
http:// .com/FinlandSuicides

List of countries by suicide rate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...y_suicide_rate

Itsemurhat (in finnish) graphics
http://www.terveyskirjasto.fi/tervey...keli=suo00029#

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Human Rights
In Finland there is yearly more violations against Human Rights, than the rest of the Nordic countries together
(Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Island)

Press handout 13.1.2009 (lists in finnish, no english versions available in official websites.)
Beginning of the listings at the site of Foreign Ministry.
http://formin.finland.fi/Public/Prin...I&contentlan=1
http://formin.finland.fi/public/defa...0&contentLan=2

Interactive map by countries in english:
http://www.echr.coe.int/ECHR/homepage_en
http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/vi...in=hudoc-pr-en

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Political life is like in Russia, we have huge amont of corrupted politicians, (political elite) and the Ministry of Justice is involved to politics, organising elections and covering the corrupted politicians. Greco reported this connection is dangerous and requires immediate developments in legislation.

I got just minutes ago, ensurance from Ministry of Justice by email, that they are going to skip Greco recommendations, evalRound3.

Please refer to next arcticles and Greco report:
By David Ibison, Nordic Correspondent. David.Ibison(at)ft.com
Published: June 10 2008 | Last updated: June 10 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f93f9818-3...nclick_check=1
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http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring...and_Two_EN.pdf
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http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring...and_One_EN.pdf