Norway is the # 1 Place to Live ( Archived) (3)

The UNDP rated Norway as the best country to live in for the 5th year in a row. Reasons being a cool climate, pleanty of herrings and a most generous welfare state buoyed (or fueled by if you will forgive the pun) by high oil prices giving everyone a decent life. There is less disparity in wages, for example a doctor only makes slightly more money than a bus driver and both make enough to live very comfortably. Health care is universal and free and any parent can take up to ten months of maternity or paternity leave with full pay.

Norway earns 38 billion dollars a year from oil, and being thrifty and conscious of hyper-inflating their economy, they only spend 4% of this revenue, the rest is stashed away in a rainy day fund for when the oil and gas runs out in the North Sea. Well we'd like to think that our life in the US is pretty good, especially if one is rich but then there is a whole segment of society that lives paycheck to paycheck and would be on the street, without healthcare if they ever lost their job.

I am mostly Norwegian, as are most of the people who live in Minnesota. I think you will find that Minnesota is one of the more egalitarian states in the Union. Want to start a discussion on Scandinavian writers? We could start with Ibsen. Your move!