Thailand Ranks 58th In World's Best Country List

[webfact]

Thailand ranks 58th in "World's Best Country" list

BANGKOK (NNT) -Thailand takes 58th in The World′s Best Countries, the United States-based weekly news magazine, Newsweek reports.

Newsweek magazine has recently ranked living conditions in 100 countries around the world. The magazine defines Finland as the best country, followed by Switzerland and Sweden. However, the three countries on the bottom of the list apart from North Korea, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe or Iraq, are Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Cameroon.

Factors examined in the analysis range from education, health care, quality of life, economic dynamism, and political environment.

According to each individual category, Thailand took 57th in education, 66th in health, 55th in quality of life, 39th in economic dynamism, and 74th in political environment due to the recent political rift. The country gained 5.56 points out of 10 in term of public participation in politics, which made up a total of 62.17 points on a scale of 100 and placed at 58th of the ranking.

-- NNT 2010-08-18

[thrilled]

A travel magazine that came out about A month ago,said Bangkok was the best city.

[Groongthep]

Factors examined in the analysis range from education, health care, quality of life, economic dynamism, and political environment.

Obviously the rankings didn't include climate since Finland, Sweden and to a lesser extent Switzerland are dark and miserably cold most of the year. Just what exactly is included in the "quality of life" category anyway?

[DP25]

Obviously the rankings didn't include climate since Finland, Sweden and to a lesser extent Switzerland are dark and miserably cold most of the year. Just what exactly is included in the "quality of life" category anyway?

Last time I saw one of these surveys where they just throw a bunch of numbers from the CIA factbook in to a machine without any analysis Thailand was ranked as having just about the worst weather in the world, far lower than all those countries as well as lots of other cold and wet countries

[Jingthing]

A travel magazine that came out about A month ago,said Bangkok was the best city.

For tourists. This is more about how it is for citizens.

[Phatcharanan]

Thailand was ranked as having just about the worst weather in the world, far lower than all those countries as well as lots of other cold and wet countries

I somehow doubt that.

[Jingthing]

Thailand was ranked as having just about the worst weather in the world, far lower than all those countries as well as lots of other cold and wet countries

I somehow doubt that.

That's funny. I like the weather in Pattaya most of the time, yes it is rainy season now, oh well. I can't imagine rating the weather in Finland over Thailand, sounds like an anti-tropical bias.

[Groongthep]

Obviously the rankings didn't include climate since Finland, Sweden and to a lesser extent Switzerland are dark and miserably cold most of the year. Just what exactly is included in the "quality of life" category anyway?

Last time I saw one of these surveys where they just throw a bunch of numbers from the CIA factbook in to a machine without any analysis Thailand was ranked as having just about the worst weather in the world, far lower than all those countries as well as lots of other cold and wet countries

Finland's and Sweden's climate maybe better for about 2 or 3 months out of the year but I'll take Thailand's climate the other 9 or 10.

[DP25]

Thailand was ranked as having just about the worst weather in the world, far lower than all those countries as well as lots of other cold and wet countries

I somehow doubt that.

It was, I think I even read it on this board. Thailand is too hot and gets lots of rain, much more so than European countries. Doesn't matter if Thailand's rain comes down in an hour or two then is dry and sunny again, to the machine that is worse than a non stop drizzle for days on end because the total amount is more.

[cardholder]

Didn't notice Cambodia on that list.

Not good to be African, you can see wht they are all heading for Spain.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/15/interactive-infographic-of-the-worlds-best-countries.html

[craigt3365]

Jeez, Thailand is BELOW Albania, Belarus, Cuba, Dominican Republic, etc....very sad. I was in Albania a few years ago. What a crazy country. And Cuba? Come on...something seems out of whack here. I know politics hurt Thailand's position, but no way is it worse than these countries?????

[Familyonthemove]

If you look at the movement of people and where they choose to live - it must tell a different story? Everybody wants to get out of Cuba and unless you are living in a war zone (Afganistan, Iraq, half of Africa) or underwater (Pakistan, Bangladesh) or have no job and need free health care, then nobody wants to go the the UK.

But there's quite a few people choosing to live in Thailand.

[paulchiangmai]

If you look at the movement of people and where they choose to live - it must tell a different story? Everybody wants to get out of Cuba and unless you are living in a war zone (Afganistan, Iraq, half of Africa) or underwater (Pakistan, Bangladesh) or have no job and need free health care, then nobody wants to go the the UK.

But there's quite a few people choosing to live in Thailand.

Try looking at the immigration figures into the UK before making such a stupid statement. There are thousands of people from so called rich countries move to the UK every year, were they all unemployed and in need of health care prior to going?

[ChiangMaiFun]

A travel magazine that came out about A month ago,said Bangkok was the best city.

Probably owned by a Thai - I also believe Chiang Mai was second? co-incidence? hmmmm call me cynical

[hammered]

Its all subjective really. I doubt any criteria used by any measurement method would match with my personal criteria or that of anyone else. There are however, obsessions of ranking things. One piece of advice when starting to blog is to have lists and rank things. People obsess over them. Strange really. Anyway I guess we can assume foreigners chosing to live in a country other than their own like it, otherwise it would be a bit silly live there really.

[PoorSucker]

I have a lived both in Finland and Sweden.

Not only is the weather crap, people are also cold.

Don't get me started on the taxes.

Finland and Sweden must be paradise for people that don't want to work.

[craigt3365]

I have a lived both in Finland and Sweden.

Not only is the weather crap, people are also cold.

Don't get me started on the taxes.

Finland and Sweden must be paradise for people that don't want to work.

I met a couple from Sweden last year while on safari. I guess the government is asking people to take vitamin D because they don't get it from the sun...guess there is so little!

I was just off the coast up near Seattle a few years ago. It was June and colder than heck, spitting rain. Happened to mention it to a local and she replied that they prefer it cold so they can wear their sweaters! Me, I prefer shorts, t-shirt and NO shoes! Thailand fits that bill perfectly...plus, the girls always look better without so many layers of clothing. Cuba fits that bill pretty well also!

[yellow1red1]

Jeez, Thailand is BELOW Albania, Belarus, Cuba, Dominican Republic, etc....very sad. I was in Albania a few years ago. What a crazy country. And Cuba? Come on...something seems out of whack here. I know politics hurt Thailand's position, but no way is it worse than these countries?????

funny, my clothes are dirty not filthy - if not lucky or have the sense to live in a top 10 country, why split hairs about all the out of the running ones?

# 87 on this list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index where life expectency and income, health, education are measures

[Familyonthemove]

If you look at the movement of people and where they choose to live - it must tell a different story? Everybody wants to get out of Cuba and unless you are living in a war zone (Afganistan, Iraq, half of Africa) or underwater (Pakistan, Bangladesh) or have no job and need free health care, then nobody wants to go the the UK.

But there's quite a few people choosing to live in Thailand.

Try looking at the immigration figures into the UK before making such a stupid statement. There are thousands of people from so called rich countries move to the UK every year, were they all unemployed and in need of health care prior to going?

I've seen the immigration figures ... Central/Eastern Europe and South Asia is top - but the figures do not show income levels ... but the point of my mail is to suggest that where people choose to live may be a better indicator of desirability if we exclude factors like economic pressures, war and severe natural diasters which force people to the developed countries despite the miserable weather. As most TV posters choose to live in Thailand for positive reasons I reckon that adds weight to my view.

[babsy65]

I have a lived both in Finland and Sweden.

Not only is the weather crap, people are also cold.

Don't get me started on the taxes.

Finland and Sweden must be paradise for people that don't want to work.

I met a couple from Sweden last year while on safari. I guess the government is asking people to take vitamin D because they don't get it from the sun...guess there is so little!

I was just off the coast up near Seattle a few years ago. It was June and colder than heck, spitting rain. Happened to mention it to a local and she replied that they prefer it cold so they can wear their sweaters! Me, I prefer shorts, t-shirt and NO shoes! Thailand fits that bill perfectly...plus, the girls always look better without so many layers of clothing. Cuba fits that bill pretty well also!

Not vitamin D, they take their daily dose of simulated sun rays in the form of Light Boxes.

I had one of those once, attached to an alarm clock.. pretty neat, I must say.

[Jingthing]

Didn't notice Cambodia on that list.

Not good to be African, you can see wht they are all heading for Spain.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/15/interactive-infographic-of-the-worlds-best-countries.html

They only applied the metrics to 100 countries. That leaves a lot of countries out of consideration entirely.

[thaiedward]

Didn't notice Cambodia on that list.

Not good to be African, you can see wht they are all heading for Spain.

http://www.newsweek....-countries.html

They only applied the metrics to 100 countries. That leaves a lot of countries out of consideration entirely.

Nicely observed and posted.

The truth's not eas'ly sorted.

[ysaan]

If you look at the movement of people and where they choose to live - it must tell a different story? Everybody wants to get out of Cuba and unless you are living in a war zone (Afganistan, Iraq, half of Africa) or underwater (Pakistan, Bangladesh) or have no job and need free health care, then nobody wants to go the the UK.

But there's quite a few people choosing to live in Thailand.

That's for exapts.

But most of ordinary citizens live in dire conditions.

Here in Ysaan extreme poverty and acute malnourishment are the norm.(just look at the WHO statistics about the extreme malnourishment rate in the world, Thailand has one of the highest)

In many villages people don t have even a pair of shoes, nor a single blanket, nobody has s life insurance and people often die young for appendixitis or perfectly curable illnesses.

Most of people just survive eating rice with frogs, bugs, snakes, ants and so on and drinking rain water.

Regarding middle class Bangkokians, yes, they have more things including 95% of them have so many debts they will not able to pay even in the next lifes.

Regarding the 5% of ultrarich people, for sure they put the average up, they are so filthy rich they don t know how to spend so much money.

[Tracechain]

Well, it could have been worse. They could have been rated 59th!

[asiawatcher]

Jeez, Thailand is BELOW Albania, Belarus, Cuba, Dominican Republic, etc....very sad. I was in Albania a few years ago. What a crazy country. And Cuba? Come on...something seems out of whack here. I know politics hurt Thailand's position, but no way is it worse than these countries?????

Then Thailand IS correctly placed!

[jelluk]

http://www.newsweek.com/photo/2010/03/30/asia

i think this is the link for the story

[dumball]

If you look at the movement of people and where they choose to live - it must tell a different story? Everybody wants to get out of Cuba and unless you are living in a war zone (Afganistan, Iraq, half of Africa) or underwater (Pakistan, Bangladesh) or have no job and need free health care, then nobody wants to go the the UK.

But there's quite a few people choosing to live in Thailand.

That's for exapts.

But most of ordinary citizens live in dire conditions.

Here in Ysaan extreme poverty and acute malnourishment are the norm.(just look at the WHO statistics about the extreme malnourishment rate in the world, Thailand has one of the highest)

In many villages people don t have even a pair of shoes, nor a single blanket, nobody has s life insurance and people often die young for appendixitis or perfectly curable illnesses.

Most of people just survive eating rice with frogs, bugs, snakes, ants and so on and drinking rain water.

Regarding middle class Bangkokians, yes, they have more things including 95% of them have so many debts they will not able to pay even in the next lifes.

Regarding the 5% of ultrarich people, for sure they put the average up, they are so filthy rich they don t know how to spend so much money.

Thank you for a very pertinant response to a post from a rose tinted/blinker wearing expat .

Thailand falls very low on the scale for how a large percetage of its citizens actualy survive , yes , it is survival and not a decent living for a human being , most animals are assured a far better life in the west .

[RedNIvar]

I think 58 is a fair assessment based on the defined rating criteria.

Education : I have worked with Thai's and found them to be good at what they do most of the time. However the lack of English in their education system and the communication problem does not help this score. Not forgetting high amount of bias in historical studies in local Thai education system. Compared to other SEA countries, it has to fare worse than the likes of Singapore, Malaysia, Phillipines, even Indonesia.

Health: Yes Thailand has good hospitals and care, but only for those who can afford it. When compared to SEA, I still believe it is behind in terms of skill and cost. A Thai buddy of mine claims that Thailand only has the best brain and Sex change surgeons. Plenty of practice from the motorcyclist and transgenders.

Quality of life: Yes, quality of life in Bangkok and a couple of other cities is good, it gets even better with money. This however does not represent Thailand as a whole. The rural poor coming out and rioting early this year should be an indication of lack of a equality and distribution of an improved quality of life.

Economic Dynamism: This could have ranked much higher. The closure of the airport and the recent Red riots have significantly hampered the growth. I work for a multinational company that had big expansion plans in Thailand, that was until they closed the airport. All these billions of dollars of additional revenue have now moved over to other SEA countries. After the recent Red riots all expansion in Thailand was put on full stop. Yes Thailand is still attracting investment into the country, but not at a rate that they could have or should.

Political Environment: What can I say about this that have not been said. It is in the doldrums.

If this survey was rated based on criteria of female attractiveness, booze price, climate, or fun factor, then yeah I'm sure Thailand would surely have been in the top 10, or Top5. IMHO.

[snpjn]

At my present income levels, if I were to choose 5 countries I had the option of spending my life in, Thailand would be at or near the top of that list!

If I were filthy rich, I would still love to spend a lot of time here in Thailand.

The wonderful thing about Thailand is that you can have great live (nearly as good as countries on top of this BEST COUNTRY list at such affordable prices.

Plus, am not sure if those other countries could also be called "The Land Of Smiles"!

A travel magazine that came out about A month ago,said Bangkok was the best city.

[DP25]

Here in Ysaan extreme poverty and acute malnourishment are the norm.(just look at the WHO statistics about the extreme malnourishment rate in the world, Thailand has one of the highest)

In many villages people don t have even a pair of shoes, nor a single blanket, nobody has s life insurance and people often die young for appendixitis or perfectly curable illnesses.

Most of people just survive eating rice with frogs, bugs, snakes, ants and so on and drinking rain water.

What a load of... *looks at registration date and post history* ahh never mind