I may move to Norway

I was watching "Who wants to be a millionare" today and one of the questions that came up was this:

According to a recent UN study, which of these countries has the highest quality of living ?

The choices were A. Canada B. Switzerland C. Belgium and D. Norway.

I guessed Switzerland and was wrong. It was Norway of course.

I thought it was interesting that neither the UK or the USA were featured. Especially when we arrogantly consider both of these countries to be the best.

From the link below: A successful community is not that which has one wealthy member and nine living in poverty, but that one where all members of the community have succeeded in achieving a high standard of living.

In my opinion this is the ideal which the US should be heading for but year by year (with the repugnants in office) is moving further and further away from.

Don't know about the rest of you all but Norway is looking pretty good to me.

United Nations: Nordic Countries Best Place to Live in the World

Its too cold for me up there even if they have a better standard of living. Maybe the cold kills off all the homeless people there.

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
Maybe the cold kills off all the homeless people there.

Unfortunately, this is very very true...
BTW, Coldest record for Norway = -52 degrees celsius (rare but possible)...
Very hard to be homeless among all the rich people there.
And everything is expensive too.

Originally posted by Hellmutt

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
Maybe the cold kills off all the homeless people there.

Unfortunately, this is very very true...
BTW, Coldest record for Norway = -52 degrees celsius (rare but possible)...

I live in Finland, and i dont remember cold killing anyone here...
and that minus -52 degrees, well its most likely taken in the north parts of the country.
if i remember correctly the record in finland is -55 degrees, but it was in lapland. a loong way from the real settlement.

Originally posted by TheSwordMaster
I live in Finland, and i dont remember cold killing anyone here...

You are right regarding the -52 not being in Oslo or dense areas. However, homeless people do indeed freeze to death every winter there (probably more in Moscow though). -30 is enough if you have no roof over your head or a place to go. The press do not mention these deaths as much as they should have. Only small notices well hidden in the middle of the newspapers. If they did make a big thing about it, it would give a bad image you know. Better to keep it quiet, let nature do the dirtywork it could seem. Give the rest of the world the impression that "there are no homeless people in Norway" (yeah, right...). I believe there are at least 5000 homeless people in Oslo alone, and every winter it creeps down to -30 degrees sometimes at peaks. The salvation army saves alot of them though, giving some food and temporary shelter. If they didn�t, many more would perish. If you�re ever stuck with alot of money not knowing what to do with them, give it to the salvation army. They need it to be able to keep up their work. In times of crisis and disasters around the world, people seem to forget the homeless in their own country.

Of course they have a high standard of living when you compare the ratio of wealthy to poor of a population of around 4.5 million people versus the US at around 300 million people.

That also accounts for the health of the people who are a more homogenous group than the US. We have the most diversified population on the planet with the most diversified range of health problems. Yet, with all that we still rank fairly decently in terms of longevity.

Plus a little known fact, Norway is the world's third largest oil exporter. A lesson I learned on CNN, but very curiously, way under-reported. That accounts for all their wealth, and the government is easily able to take care of its rather small population. Just like in Kuwait. Almost all of Kuwati labor is done primarily by foreigners, and the Kuwaiti's who do work average only about 15 hours per week.

Feel free to kick yourself.

I'm not about to LOL...not by a long shot.

I didn't do the study. The UN did. And health care and education for all sounds mighty good to me and a lot of other people I am sure.


A truly civilized country takes care of it's poor and isn't considered "Great" simply because they have a few ' Bill Gateses' compared to the many, many, MANY working poor who can't even afford preventative health care for themselves and their families, let alone enough food to eat.

There is a place in Norway called "Hell" (yes indeed).
Could be an interesting place to live.
Tourists love to get their pictures taken at the railstation there.
Right under the sign which says "Hell St."
Might be some problems ordering stuff from englishspeaking countries though.
They might think you�re joking and don�t want to send their stuff to Hell...


Here�s a link: en.wikipedia.org...





[edit on 2004/8/12 by Hellmutt]

In the winter it's very cold in Canada too. Very few homeless die in such conditions. On the other hand in the Summer its very hot. Thats probably because on the cold weather that preceded it.

Homeless people tend to gather in city's with large populations. ie.downtown Toronto, near the brothels, etc

How could the US hace a high quality of living based on the average of population density. Maybe if the billions spent on war went into the economy the US would be a better place to live, other than that it's just a debt ridden country.

There are other fiordlands around this hunk of rock with a better quality of life than Norway.

Quality of life is such a subjective measure unless the criteria are defined. Evidence of that is the number of posters on ATS who talk about the US having the best quality of life on earth who have never left the US even once.

Actually, Norway is a very beautiful country to live in...



And last night (when they were asleep), they made about 44 million $ for 10 hours worth of oildrilling. That�s what the state made in profit and taxes. Not bad for a population of about 4.5 million. But the oil is pumping in all the time, not just for 10 hours...

Norway ranks number 4 on the most taxed countries in the world.

1. Holy See (Vatican City) $190450.05 per person
2. Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) $22312.09 per person
3. Monaco $16122.00 per person
4. Norway $15771.68 per person

It also ranks number 1 in drug offences

1. Norway 987.1
2. Switzerland 648.4
3. New Zealand 641.6
4. United States 560.1

Drug offenses cases per 100,000 population (2000).

The grass is always greener on the other side

www.nationmaster.com...

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
It also ranks number 1 in drug offences

1. Norway 987.1
2. Switzerland 648.4
3. New Zealand 641.6
4. United States 560.1

Drug offenses cases per 100,000 population (2000).

The grass is always greener on the other side

I believe it, 100%.
And that�s a result of wrong drug-politics.
But that�s a discussion I don�t want to start here...
It�s actually just what you say, the grass is greener somewhere else but there.

Originally posted by Hellmutt
Actually, Norway is a very beautiful country to live in...

I just saw that image today. It's a funny trick...

members.home.nl...

Originally posted by Bangin

Originally posted by Hellmutt
Actually, Norway is a very beautiful country to live in...

I just saw that image today. It's a funny trick...

members.home.nl...

Wow, I didn�t even know this excist.
Same picture from Geiranger, Norway.



[edit on 2004/8/10 by Hellmutt]

Well, MA, I have traveled several places in the world, and I like most Americans I know that have traveled, still prefer our quality of life here to other places.

Healthcare and education is not the standard of what constitutes for everyone, you know. People value different things, and I have learned, Americans especially, seem to judge things by a different bar.

For one, low taxation here. Freedom of mobility, both physical and social. The ability to either partake in the system, or completely drop out of it with no notice. Limited regulation, ect.

Different strokes for different folks. I know, despite all the wonderful things in Europe, there were alot of things they didnt have that I truly missed back home.

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
Different strokes for different folks. I know, despite all the wonderful things in Europe, there were alot of things they didnt have that I truly missed back home.

Like the availabillity to guns? Normally I would agree with you Skadi but the nordic train of thought is more like do your own thing, don't interfere with other people and enjoy. Definately the way to go.