The Netherlands is the 8th best place in the world for a baby to be born in 2013, in terms of its opportunity to live a healthy, safe, and prosperous life in the coming years, according to a new report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
The EIU's where-to-be-born index attempts to link in a quantitative way the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys (i.e. how happy people say they are) to objective measures of the quality of life between 80 countries around the world.
According to the EIU, being wealthy boosts quality of life more than any other factor, although it is not the only factor that matters: crime rates, trust in public institutions, and the health of family life are also important. Their index takes 11 statistically significant indicators into account, including GDP per capita, geography, life expectancy, job security, climate, and gender equality.
Interestingly, the Top 10 is filled with countries with small economies, and although five of them are in Europe, the Netherlands is the only eurozone country in the Top 10.
Switzerland finished 1st, with Australia and a Nordic bloc of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark filling out the Top 5. Meanwhile, Nigeria is ranked the worst place for a baby to be born in 2013.
You can view the report and see the complete ranking here, and you can read more about the methodology used to formulate the index here.