IL Postcard

What Is “Quality of Life” Anyway?

Date: 12/31/2007

Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2008

The best place in the world to live? For the third year running, our annual Quality of Life Index says France.

To produce this Quality of Life Index (starting on page 24 of the January issue of your International Living magazine), we consider 192 countries in nine categories: Cost of Living, Culture and Leisure, Economy, Environment, Freedom, Health, Infrastructure, Safety and Risk, and Climate. This involves number-crunching from official government sources, the World Health Organization, The Economist, and many other journals, tables, and records.

But we realize you can’t quantify quality of life by numbers alone. Quality of life relates to something broader. Opening your front door in the morning and being able to wiggle your toes in the sand may be more important to you than cost of living. You may rate good neighbors and good doctors above infrastructure in a country. Perhaps the state of the economy means less to you than the pleasure derived from watching a perfectly executed tango. It is for these reasons that, this year, instead of focusing solely on the numbers in our annual Quality of Life Index, we asked our far-flung editors to tell us about their quality of life in the countries in which they have chosen to live.

International Living’s Publisher Emeritus Kathleen Peddicord extols the virtues of her life in Paris (on page 24 of the issue). France may have fast trains, the best medical care in the world, and too-many-to-count museums…but, Kathleen argues, that’s not why she lives here. Paris, at all times of the year, any time of day, in any weather, is simply a beautiful city.

Despite the many hurdles of life in Latin America, Suzan Haskins and Dan Prescher have never regretted leaving behind the wind, rain, snow, and sleet of midwestern U.S. winters. After six years and several countries, they’ve settled in Merida, Mexico, where they liken their life to that in a typical U.S. town in the 1950s. (To read this story, see page 26).

Lee Harrison admits (on page 28) that Punta del Este in Uruguay isn’t the cheapest place to retire. But a yard with no fence…and a city where genteel conduct and courteous behavior are the norm…is, for him, incredibly appealing.

Wherever you go in 2008, we hope you find your ideal quality of life, and wish you a happy and prosperous New Year.

Laura Sheridan
Managing Editor, International Living

P.S. If you’re not yet a subscriber to the monthly International Living magazine, become one now and get instant access to the articles I mentioned above…plus where to invest your dollars in 2008…how to make easy money on an indirect real estate investment…how to pay thousands less on every flight you take…and much, much more.