Hey there!
Welcome to Life Noggin.
Imagine being able to move anywhere on Earth.
Where is the best spot to live?
Sure, everyone has different preferences — like being in a cold versus a warm climate — but
most people can agree that they want to live a long, safe, and happy life.
And science can help find the best place for that.
There are tons of studies about where you humans live the longest.
But any measure of life expectancy is just an estimate.
We can’t actually know how long you’ll live until you… well, die.
And that’s a problem.
If we only study the lifespans of people who’ve already died — say, everyone born in 1890
— that won’t help us figure out today’s life expectancy.
We now have better medicine, housing, and sanitation than back then.
So instead, scientists use probability.
They predict how likely it is someone will reach a certain age based on current trends
and conditions.
The countries with the longest lifespans all have strong economies, good access to healthcare,
and generally healthy diets.
Monaco takes the top spot… it’s citizens live to be an average of over 85 years old.
In Japan and Hong Kong, the average is over 83 years.
But these numbers could change if a disaster hits or a war breaks out.
For somewhere to be the best place, it also has to be safe.
Japan is at a high risk for disasters because gets a lot of earthquakes and floods.
Even more vulnerable are the islands in Southeast Asia and the central Pacific, which face earthquakes,
storms, and increasing sea levels.
Many of these countries don’t have the resources or infrastructure to deal with disasters.
This is important because the same size storm could topple buildings in one place while
leaving another without much damage.
The safest nations are the ones where natural disasters don’t happen often, but if they
did, the country could handle them.
Topping the list are Saudi Arabia, Malta, and Qatar.
And they are also some of the happiest.
It’s tough to study happiness because it means different things to different people.
So scientists at the United Nations came up with six criteria that apply to every country:
wealth, life expectancy, corruption, social support, freedom to make your own decisions,
and generosity, or how much people donate.[ They talked to people in 150 countries, and
the happiest were in Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland.
So which one is the best place to live?
Well, there is one country that ranks near the top in just about every study: Iceland.
It’s not only happy and peaceful, but it makes the top 10 in life expectancy and in
safety from natural disasters.
So Iceland is the best!….
Maybe.
It’s probably more important to go based on where you feel most comfortable.
For me, that’s the cozy insides of this computer.
Where would you move if you could go anywhere?
Let me know in the comments below.
Have you ever wondered where the best place on Earth is to eat?
Well, that might take a while to find out, but in the meantime, check out the new show
Food Groups from our friends over at Thrillist, where they explore some of the best places
to eat all over the U.S.