Countries with Highest Standard of Living

I just returned from a Norwegian Coastal Cruise from Bergen to the Russian border. Norwegians do have a pretty high standard of living, but their taxes are pretty high; restaurant food and goods are taxed at 25%, and food in markets are taxed at 19%. Average cost of lunch is about $25, and dinner with wine is about $100. During our cruise, we stopped at 33 ports going up north, and visited - or had tours (some 15 minutes, and others for several hours) to visit some of the cities along the coast. All cities are well kept and clean, and the landscape beautiful. The average income is about $60,000, but I have often wondered while there, how people can survive when most things cost so much! I refused to buy t-shirts, because they averaged about $25 - $30 for printed ones, and more for embroidered ones.

Beer costs about $10, and wine about $12+, but many bars and pubs seem to be busy with patrons.

You can visit my travelogue at travelpod.com. I'm under c.i.222.

You "did" 33 ports? That's whistle stop touring.

Hurtigruten is a working ship that allows passengers to stay for the whole 12 days, or to hop from port to port. Our "deal" including three squares a day in their restaurant, but there is also a cafeteria on board where people can buy food/drinks. There really is no "entertainment" on board except for the walking tours and optional tours by the shipping company at extra cost at ports. Since many of the port stops is for 15-minutes, there isn't enough time to walk into town to explore.

On one of the optional tours I took, we got off at one port, and got on at another port; it was a three hour bus and boat tour on a lake.

It sounds fantastic ci. Henry Miller is better on Norway though. And Knut Hamsun.

Actually the chances of being shot in school are so statistically small as to be irrelevant. The fact that the media likes to pay attention to statistically improbable events does not make them more likely to happen. Geesh.

Danger of being shot every time they go to school? You obviously watch the media to much. The chances of being shot at school are so statistically small as to be irrelevant. Stop listening to the media, after all fear sells. The health care system is for the rich and since it is a country based largely in capitalism it is a place for the rich. For the average person in the US they live in debt.

The United States has some of the best universities in the world. Again it is a country for the rich. It is also not a country based in Socialism (as everyone should know) so obviously the things you mention it will score low on. I do think Americans are starting to realize that health care needs to be a right and not a privilege though.

Crime in Norway? LOL. I lived there for two years and crime in comparison to the United States is way LOWER. You obviously aren't doing your homework.

You mention France and then comment on American debt? LOL. France is swimming in debt from the burden of those very socialized services you mentioned. It cannot last.

Help people? LOL. Norway has one of the worst rankings for asylum seeking refugees. Canada on the other hand ranks number one for helping people in this regard.

I lived in Norway for two years and as much as I liked and enjoyed the country I will never live there because it is to damn expensive. Never take a taxi in Norway, yikes. Like $50 for a 10 minute trip.

Looking at the dates on here this might not even get read, but I would like to express my thanks for the interesting reading. I would have to say after reading all that everyone is correct to some extent. The one that started it all saying it's no surprise we haven't had a revolution yet. Yes, indeed it is, but that is because people in this country have gotten so used to their way of life as long as they can some how manage to hang on to what they have they don't care what the government is doing, or how they are being screwed.
The beautiful thing about this country is everyone has the opportunity to be rich. It's up to you to put the effort forward to make something happen. Not everyone can be an athlete, singer, movie star, etc but there are other ways.
Heck you can be born a complete idiot and if you got some kind of talent or looks you can make it.
Sad thing about what that one person said about most people being in the dark is it's true. However, that's because there is a lot more stupid people in this world than smart people. If someone tells them something they believe it. Doctors are a perfect example of that. Most people will believe whatever the doctor tells them because they have that degree and PhD in front of their name, but that by no means makes that doctor a genius or even smart. In my opinion most of them are idiots. Just like car mechanics, or wrench turners as I like to call them. What can you do God did bless everyone with the smart genes.
The thing is the U.S. is a great country to live in. You have to be smart enough to know how the system works so you can screw it instead of being screwed by it.

The USA has a high level of inequality in the areas of income, life expectancy, and education which hurts our ranking. So these rankings are from the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index . See: http://hdr.undp.org/en/

why Germany is not in this list??? :-/

You have to define first what the highest standard of living is.

Germany is not in the top ten countries with the highest quality of life standard either:
(That's why they say: Glücklich wie Gott im Frankreich)

Germany IS on the index of Very High Human Development Countries, on which lists above are based (link), miles ahead of France. (The reason is quite simple: « L'Angleterre est un empire, l'Allemagne un pays, la France est une personne.»)

Hope you are getting better, Walter!

Dont start, or I'll be forced to point out that Australia ranks higher than you both on all three so far.

Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan were the only countries to rank lower than Australia in the global climate policy index ...

Probably the beer.