U.S. tumbles to #5

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International Living Postcards--Sunday Edition

Sunday, Dec. 31, 2006
Paris, France

For the second year running, we're not naming the U.S. as the best place in the world to live. In our 2007 Quality of Life Index, the U.S. again fails to claim top honors.

What can we say? Living is easy in the good ol' US of A. But easy isn't everything, and, in the 2007 Quality of Life Index, the long-reigning champion has fallen to #5.

Every year since 1979, International Living has scoured the Earth in search of the best. The best of everything…including quality of life. The first of every year, then, the results of our annual index are released. We don't know ourselves how it will turn out until all the number-crunching is finished. And this year, like last, the results (officially released tomorrow) surprised us.

International Living's Annual Quality of Life Index has become the gold standard by which to measure the most comfortable, most appealing, most safe, and most potentially rewarding of these places on Earth to live…as well as the most dangerous, dirty, and God-forsaken corners of our planet.

The full report is featured in the January print edition of International Living. To create this report, our editors considered 193 countries according to nine criteria: cost of living, leisure and culture, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, safety and risk, and climate.

Countries jockey for position every year. Situations, landscapes, and markets change. Economies rise and fall. Currencies are devalued. Governments are overthrown. Disasters strike.

Where are the Cheapest, the Warmest, the Safest, and the Most Entertaining Places to Live?

This year, Argentina captures the top spot among South American nations. Croatia sits at the top of the heap for Central Europe. Costa Rica beat Nicaragua in Central America, but Panama bested both of them.

Who came out top overall?

Ah…you'll have to read your print issue to find out. If you're a subscriber, watch for it in your mailbox any day now. If you're not, I invite you to become one here now.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Peddicord
Publisher, International Living

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P.S. The world's most dangerous cities…20 places you'll live longer than in the U.S….the hottest property market to watch…the cheapest, the most corrupt, the safest, the most business-friendly, the least environmentally friendly, the most cultured, the least free…and more…we rank them all.