The UK’s not the best country in the world to move to

US travel magazine International Living has published its annual quality of life list naming the best place in the world to live. They use seven criteria, 1.Cost of Living, 2.Culture and Leisure, 3.Economy, 4.Environment, 5.Freedom, 6.Health, 7.Infrastructure, 8.Safety and 9.Climate, and graded 193 countries to come up with the place they think is the best to move to.

For the second year in a row they chose France as scoring highest on all the important quality of life issues, the UK unfortunately lags a long way down the list at 37th, behind 28 other European countries including places like Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland as well as Mexico and Panama.

The top ten countries recommended to move to if you’re not already there are
1.France
2.Australia
3.Netherlands
4.New Zealand
5.USA
6.Switzerland
7.Denmark
8.Italy
9.Luxembourg
10.Argentina
all pretty good countries from what I can tell, where does the UK fall down when compared to them?

Cost of Living - very, very expensive, the tax burden, especially the stealth taxes the Labour government have brought in really cuts into people’s spending power. House prices are incredible and probably prohibitive for any one wanting to move here, the costs of running a car (petrol, insurance, parking charges) are insane and in a few years new technology will mean paying for every mile you drive. A trip to the supermarket will be a lot cheaper in Europe or the US.

Culture and Leisure - Somewhere like London would score highly on this, there’s loads to do and see but it costs. If you have money you can have a great time.

Economy - on the face of it the UK’s doing well, low inflation and unemployment, hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the new EU countries filling lots of jobs. On the flip side the UK works the longest hours in Europe and a flood of cheap labour will keep wages down.

Environment - The UK’s cities are fairly densely packed but there is a lot of countryside to see if you get out of them. That could change, the government’s itching to allow building in the protected green belt land around places like London.

Freedom - The UK’s probably one of the freest countries in some ways although we have the most CCTV cameras watching the streets in the world and the government is trying to bring in an ID card system. The press is free and the chances of you getting sent to prison for non violent crimes are almost zero in the current 2007 climate, because the prison system is full to bursting and judges have been instructed by the gopernment to only jail people who are a risk the public.

Health - Britain’s had a National Health Service since the late 1940s but its under severe strain at the moment. If you have a problem like needing a hip replacement expect to wait anything up to 18 months to get it fixed. A lot of British people are now trying to get treatment in Europe especially France which has an excellant health service where the treatment is very quick.

Infrastructure - Transport is a big problem for the UK, the roads, trains and Underground in London are all very over crowded. Otherwise its pretty up to speed on most modern requirements.

Safety and Risk - Violent crime is on the rise, a lot related to drugs but generally Britain’s a safe country.

Climate - All the global warming experts say that in 50 years northern Europe will be the new southern Europe, countries on the Mediterranean will just be too hot and people will holiday on the Baltic and North Sea coasts. Britain as an island will have one of the most desirable climates in this part of the world. That may happen in the future, right now the UK gets mild winters, mild summers, lots of grey clouds and rain.

The survey seems to say if you want a good quality of life look beyond the UK.