Picture from DailyMail.co.uk : Lake Brienz in the Canton of Berne in Switzerland. The country is the best place for a child to be born in 2013
Switzerland is the best place to be born in the world in 2013, and the U.A.E is 18th, right after the U.S and Germany, according to a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a sister company of The Economist. The where-to-be-born index takes into account 11 indicators and links “the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys – how happy people say they are – to objective determinants of quality of life across countries.” [Source]
Being rich is important of course but there are other factors that come into play. As far as other Arab countries are concerned, Kuwait ranked 2nd in the region (22nd world wide), followed by Saudi Arabia (38th world wide). I could not find Lebanon as it wasn’t included in the 80 countries chosen for the study, but I say we would have ranked in the bottom 30 spots.
There are many far more worst countries than Lebanon
I think it would be in 90
From an expat’s perspective, I find this index misleading in a way, a country that will not give you a residency nor a citizenship if it was your place of birth, cannot be considered a “Where to be born” country.
I’ve lived in Dubai for 5 years and I loved every single second of it, but I never thought of it as “home”, it was a transit stop for me all along, because I knew that once my job is done, I won’t be allowed to stay, even if I previously lived there for 20 years.
This article might be accurate if you were a UAE national, but not an expat.
Being an expat as yourself, someone who recently has moved to the country is quite different than someone who was born and raised there. “Home” as nothing to do with having a citizenship.
I was born and raised in Kuwait and it is home for me although I currently live in Dubai. Anyone who moves to Kuwait for work without ever having lived there would tell you they hate it… or at least cannot call it home.
My friends who were born and raised in Dubai call UAE home and you can see a lot of those sentiments this weekend with UAE national day.
It is unfortunate that neither UAE nor Kuwait provide permanent residencies (I dont ask for citizenship) but I do know that the life I had was a lot more fortunate than my peers elsewhere… such as Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Saudi, etc. The quality of life we’ve had, the opportunities we’ve had to attain our objectives, the comfort and security are all criteria taken into account.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not debating the “quality of life”, it’s amazing, but I’m stating a point regarding the “Where to be born” statement, I would never wish to be born in the UAE, and I know that from friends who were born there but left, imagine not being able to visit where you were born without applying for a visa.
I’ve since moved to Canada and I can really call this place home.
And I bet KSA is a goog place to be born in for women
One thing’s for sure Lebanon is one of the worst to be born and live in
I second Maya :/