July 20, 2004 5:56 AM

And all this time, I'd thought it was Baytown....

Norway still the world's best place to live: For the fourth year in a row, the United Nations has ranked Norway as having the highest standard of living in the world

Surveys like this are what convince many Americans that the UN is irrelevant. Still, I think it's good for us to be shown that there are other places in the world that have things figured out. No, I'm not about to give up my American passport anytime soon, but while I'm proud to be an American, there are other countries that have much to offer.

Sweden, Australia and Canada are next in line, while the United States is further down the scale.

The annual ranking is based largely on average levels of education and income, combined with expected length of lifetime.

The report measured standards of living in 177 countries around the world....

Norway's gross national product per person amounted to USD 36,600, beaten only by Luxembourg. Its men and women are expected to live to an age of 78.9 years and Norway is one of 19 countries in the world with no measurable rates of illiteracy.

Researchers for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) also weighed countries' degrees of cultural freedom in their analysis. They called cultural freedom a "basic human right," and awarded high scores in this year's UN Human Development Report to countries that accept immigrant cultures in addition to their own.

Of course, if that isn't enough to convince you, there is always this:

Outdoor sex craze spreads: More Norwegians seem to be engaging in sex outdoors, after a couple made headlines for coupling on the stage of a live music festival last week

Hey, do that here, and you'll end up with a painful sunburn in a very inconvenient place....

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on July 20, 2004 5:56 AM.

It's easier than displaying anything resembling leadership was the previous entry in this blog.

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