For those born in Nigeria before 2013, it's good news. According to EIU, it might not be so much of good news for the succeeding generation....

The worst three countries to be born into, in order from the bottom up, are Nigeria, Kenya and Ukraine.

After crunching its numbers, the EIU has Switzerland comfortably in the top spot, with Australia second. The United States and Germany, two of the world’s best economies, tied for 16th place; Japan ranks way down at 25th. China, Britain and France score even worse.

Warren Buffett, probably the world’s most successful investor, has said that anything good that happened to him could be traced back to the fact that he was born in the right country, the United States, at the right time (1930). A quarter of a century ago, when The World in 1988 light-heartedly ranked 50 countries according to where would be the best place to be born in 1988, America indeed came top. But which country will be the best for a baby born in 2013?

To answer this, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a sister company of The Economist, has this time turned deadly serious. It earnestly attempts to measure which country will provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in the years ahead.

Its quality-of-life index links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys—how happy people say they are—to objective determinants of the quality of life across countries. Being rich helps more than anything else, but it is not all that counts; things like crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life matter too. In all, the index takes 11 statistically significant indicators into account. They are a mixed bunch: some are fixed factors, such as geography; others change only very slowly over time (demography, many social and cultural characteristics); and some factors depend on policies and the state of the world economy.

What does all this, and likely developments in the years to come, mean for where a baby might be luckiest to be born in 2013? After crunching its numbers, the EIU has Switzerland comfortably in the top spot, with Australia second.

Small economies dominate the top ten. Half of these are European, but only one, the Netherlands, is from the euro zone. The Nordic countries shine, whereas the crisis-ridden south of Europe (Greece, Portugal and Spain) lags behind despite the advantage of a favourable climate. The largest European economies (Germany, France and Britain) do not do particularly well.

America, where babies will inherit the large debts of the boomer generation, languishes back in 16th place. Despite their economic dynamism, none of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) scores impressively. Among the 80 countries covered, Nigeria comes last: it is the worst place for a baby to enter the world in 2013


Boring is best

Quibblers will, of course, find more holes in all this than there are in a chunk of Swiss cheese. America was helped to the top spot back in 1988 by the inclusion in the ranking of a “philistine factor” (for cultural poverty) and a “yawn index” (the degree to which a country might, despite all its virtues, be irredeemably boring). Switzerland scored terribly on both counts. In the film “The Third Man”, Orson Welles’s character, the rogue Harry Lime, famously says that Italy for 30 years had war, terror and murder under the Borgias but in that time produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance; Switzerland had 500 years of peace and democracy—and produced the cuckoo clock.

However, there is surely a lot to be said for boring stability in today’s (and no doubt tomorrow’s) uncertain times. A description of the methodology is available here: food for debate all the way from Lucerne to Lagos.

Laza Kekic: director, country forecasting services, Economist Intelligence Unit

From The World In 2013 print edition


http://www.economist.com/news/21566430-where-be-born-2013-lottery-life.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/01/07/a-surprising-map-of-the-best-and-worst-countries-to-be-born-into-today/

Though just 80 countries are on the list. So, Nigeria is still far better than about 120 countries not listed. Good news I think!

Too bad. If what we have today in Nigeria is good news to you, permit me to say that you are not closer with the reality. May be you stay in ASOKORO or Maitama in Abuja.

confusion247: Too bad. If what we have today in Nigeria is good news to you, permit me to say that you are not closer with the reality. May be you stay in ASOKORO or Maitama in Abuja.

A vanquished walking through a refuse dump only sees dirts while an opportunist walking through the same refuse dump sees manure and recyclable materials. candidly speaking, Nigeria is not the best of places to be born but SURELY NOT THE WORST IN THE WORLD!!! So, that's a good news to me! May be it's better we do not compare a crocodile with a lizard, I wonder how countries like Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Kosovo, Mali and the likes would fare? So, being 80th (out of about 200) worst place to be born isn't bad afterall. Just my opinion.

I reserve my comment

I comment my reserve

2gbasky22: I comment my reserve

cool

I was born in Switzerland.













I wish i was born in Switzerland.

Warren Buffett, probably the world’s most successful investor, has said that anything good that happened to him could be traced back to the fact that he was born in the right country, the United States, at the right time (1930). A quarter of a century ago, when The World in 1988 light-heartedly ranked 50 countries according to where would be the best place to be born in 1988, America indeed came top. But which country will be the best for a baby born in 2013?

To answer this, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a sister company of The Economist, has this time turned deadly serious. It earnestly attempts to measure which country will provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in the years ahead.

Its quality-of-life index links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys—how happy people say they are—to objective determinants of the quality of life across countries. Being rich helps more than anything else, but it is not all that counts; things like crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life matter too. In all, the index takes 11 statistically significant indicators into account. They are a mixed bunch: some are fixed factors, such as geography; others change only very slowly over time (demography, many social and cultural characteristics); and some factors depend on policies and the state of the world economy.

What does all this, and likely developments in the years to come, mean for where a baby might be luckiest to be born in 2013? After crunching its numbers, the EIU has Switzerland comfortably in the top spot, with Australia second.

Small economies dominate the top ten. Half of these are European, but only one, the Netherlands, is from the euro zone. The Nordic countries shine, whereas the crisis-ridden south of Europe (Greece, Portugal and Spain) lags behind despite the advantage of a favourable climate. The largest European economies (Germany, France and Britain) do not do particularly well.

America, where babies will inherit the large debts of the boomer generation, languishes back in 16th place. Despite their economic dynamism, none of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) scores impressively. Among the 80 countries covered, Nigeria comes last: it is the worst place for a baby to enter the world in 2013


Boring is best

Quibblers will, of course, find more holes in all this than there are in a chunk of Swiss cheese. America was helped to the top spot back in 1988 by the inclusion in the ranking of a “philistine factor” (for cultural poverty) and a “yawn index” (the degree to which a country might, despite all its virtues, be irredeemably boring). Switzerland scored terribly on both counts. In the film “The Third Man”, Orson Welles’s character, the rogue Harry Lime, famously says that Italy for 30 years had war, terror and murder under the Borgias but in that time produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance; Switzerland had 500 years of peace and democracy—and produced the cuckoo clock.

However, there is surely a lot to be said for boring stability in today’s (and no doubt tomorrow’s) uncertain times. A description of the methodology is available here: food for debate all the way from Lucerne to Lagos.

Laza Kekic: director, country forecasting services, Economist Intelligence Unit

From The World In 2013 print edition

[quote author=My Vicky][/quote]
huh

My Vicky:
A vanquished walking through a refuse dump only sees dirts while an opportunist walking through the same refuse dump sees manure and recyclable materials. candidly speaking, Nigeria is not the best of places to be born but SURELY NOT THE WORST IN THE WORLD!!! So, that's a good news to me! May be it's better we do not compare a crocodile with a lizard, I wonder how countries like Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Kosovo, Mali and the likes would fare? So, being 80th (out of about 200) worst place to be born isn't bad afterall. Just my opinion.

Nigeria did not come 80th out of 200.

Nigeria came 80th out of the 80 countries covered.

Pukkah:

Nigeria did not come 80th out of 200.

Nigeria came 80th out of the 80 countries covered.

I don't quite agree with this logic. Imagine you have an organization that ranks universities in Nigeria, then during the ranking process, only 50 universities are ranked and UI comes first, wouldn't it be right to say that UI is the best university in Nigeria (out of all the Universities in Nigeria even though only 50 were ranked). Besides, my point is that Nigeria is definitely not the best place to be born in the world but Nigeria is certainly not the WORST!!! If all the countries of the world are considered, Nigeria can not be the worst!!!

My Vicky: Though just 80 countries are on the list. So, Nigeria is still far better than about 120 countries not listed. Good news I think!

You are wrong. This is a bad news for those that still believe in Nigeria. 80 spots are the states sampled so far so nigeria was last in their sample which you should be sad about.

Anyway it came as of no surprise to me so moving on

My Vicky:

I don't quite agree with this logic. Imagine you have an organization that ranks universities in Nigeria, then during the ranking process, only 50 universities are ranked and UI comes first, wouldn't it be right to say that UI is the best university in Nigeria (out of all the Universities in Nigeria even though only 50 were ranked). Besides, my point is that Nigeria is definitely not the best place to be born in the world but Nigeria is certainly not the WORST!!! If all the countries of the world are considered, Nigeria can not be the worst!!!

I agree, Nigeria may not be the worst country to be born but Nigeria did not come 80th out of 200 (as you wrongly stated) because they did not rank more than 80 countries.

Now, if 200 countries were ranked what do you think would be Nigeria's position?

i was born in naija and turned out ok

ekt_bear: i was born in naija and turned out ok

Congrats.

What percentage of those born in the same year as you has turned out well?

Pukkah:

Congrats.

What percentage of those born in the same year as you has turned out well?

A fair point...I guess not reasonable for me present myself as typical in this case.

Pukkah:

I agree, Nigeria may not be the worst country to be born but Nigeria did not come 80th out of 200 (as you wrongly stated) because they did not rank more than 80 countries.

Now, if 200 countries were ranked what do you think would be Nigeria's position?

Still 80th of course! I am among those who still believe in Nigeria! It's even good news that Nigeria was selected among the 80 countries sampled! What should the unrecognised countries do?

ekt_bear: i was born in naija and turned out ok

Good for you.

The study is too nebulous to be useful though. I would argue a child born to a Nigerian middle class family is luckier than one born to middle class African American family in 2013 on average. You can finish secondary school and university without an ounce of debt. And all the crap we pulled in boarding school in Nigeria would in the US get you a rap sheet so long you couldn't get into a good university, never mind a decent job. Lets not even talk about being born black in Britain or one of those Euro countries. My point is, Nigeria may be corrupt, but the state is not fundamentally designed to put you on the outside.

birdman: The study is too nebulous to be useful though. I would argue a child born to a Nigerian middle class family is luckier than one born to middle class African American family in 2013 on average. You can finish secondary school and university without an ounce of debt. And all the crap we pulled in boarding school in Nigeria would in the US get you a rap sheet so long you couldn't get into a good university, never mind a decent job. Lets not even talk about being born black in Britain or one of those Euro countries. My point is, Nigeria may be corrupt, but the state is not fundamentally designed to put you on the outside.

Your comparison between middle class nigerian family and middle class african american family is only valid in very few isolated cases, on the average, your assertion is somewhat invalid.

One_Naira:

You are wrong. This is a bad news for those that still believe in Nigeria. 80 spots are the states sampled so far so nigeria was last in their sample which you should be sad about.

Anyway it came as of no surprise to me so moving on

My point is that Nigeria is definitely not the best place to be born in the world but Nigeria is certainly not the WORST!!! If all the countries of the world are considered, Nigeria can not be the worst!!! I do not need any study nor any sampling process to know that to be born in Nigeria is a privilege as compared to being born in somalia, sudan, iraq, afghanistan, kosovo and so on.

My Vicky:
Your comparison between middle class nigerian family and middle class african american family is only valid in very few isolated cases, on the average, your assertion is somewhat invalid.

Can you add an example to buttress your point? I know tons of people, who by virtue of not being born into developed countries, had a starting advantage by going to those countries as young adults.

birdman:

Can you add an example to buttress your point? I know tons of people, who by virtue of not being born into developed countries, had a starting advantage by going to those countries as young adults.

I do not quite understand your point?