The Meaning of ‘Best’

Every now and then, somebody does a study on which countries are the best to live in. The latest is a Reader’s Digest study which has declared that Finland is at the top of the heap. The study was conducted by US environmental economist Matthew Kahn and this may explain why apart from the factors usually considered, environmental ones were also taken into account. The Nordic countries are the greenest in the world according to the study so Finland was closely followed by Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Austria.

“Finland wins high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters,” the study said.

The United States was 23rd on the list of 141 countries, Britain was 25th and China 84th. Nations at the bottom of the table were all African. Stockholm scored as the best city to live in out of 72 major metropolitan hubs, followed by Oslo, Munich and Paris. Four German cities won a spot in the top 10 list. New York was 15th and London 27th.

From here.

I wonder how useful such studies or polls really are. At a certain level, I can understand that it’s useful to know which places offer the best education, the most jobs, the cleanest water or freshest air. But not all human needs and wants, whims, fancies, desires and eccentricities can be neatly categorised, can they? Life, after all, is rather more complex and variegated than that. For example, New York was 15th in this study but where I come from, I meet many more people who want to live in New York than in Munich, Stockholm, Zurich or Oslo, which are usually higher up on lists like this. The reasons usually have little to do with the quality of the air, education or roads and often involve a perception of what the city offers, an imagining of how it moves and breathes, a dream.

In this column, Shashi Tharoor (a writer who I occasionally agree with) talks about the soft power of nations. Giving an example of what he means by soft power, he says:

Indian cuisine, spreading around the world, raises our culture higher in people’s reckoning; the way to foreigners’ hearts is through their palates. In England today, Indian curry houses employ more people than the iron and steel, coal and shipbuilding industries combined.

When Indian filmmakers or sportspeople succeed internationally or when Indian writers win the Booker or Pulitzer Prizes, our country’s soft power is enhanced. (Ask yourself how many Chinese novelists the typical literate American reader can name. Indeed, how many non-Western countries can claim a presence in the Occidental mind comparable to India’s?)

I think, soft powers or ’soft factors’ play an important role in people choosing where they want to live. Apart from convenience, safety and comfort, there are other things we as humans need — identity, belonging, acceptance, friendship, resonance, freedom, excitement, fulfillment and so on. And I think when choosing a country to move to (or stay in), many of us are likely to look at these factors as well.

I don’t know about the ‘best’ cities but the greatest cities are invariably not the neatest or cleanest places. They are the ones with the most history, movement, freedom or culture. They are the ones that fascinate, enthrall, excite, or even exasperate. The ones that build strong communities and stronger individuals. Of course, occasionally they get some of the basics right too.

I know many people who just want the best quality of life available out there and such studies can help them make informed choices. Then there are others who are entirely led by emotion and couldn’t care less about the smoothness of roads. I’m guessing most people are a mix of the two. What do you think?

This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 8:59 am and is filed under The Global Village. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.