Study Says Canada Quality of Life Slipping

Canada has fallen to eighth place from third on the United Nations list of the most desirable places to live in the world.

Canada had been No. 1 for seven years in a row for the best quality of life until 2001 when it was edged out by Norway, which continues to hold the top spot in the 2003 Human Development Report, which will be released this coming week.

Sources, who have seen the 2003 report card, would not provide the ranking of the seven countries ahead of Canada other than to say that Norway remains at No. 1, but they stressed "the differentials between the Top 10 are so minor that it becomes how do you decide on the minor differences in data."

The survey ranks countries on a scale based on four criteria: life expectancy, adult literacy, school enrolment and economic prosperity as measured by per capita gross domestic product or GDP.

Canada's drop in the ranking is due in part to the scales that measure poverty by which the plight of aboriginals has not improved despite $7 billion annually of federal spending, sources say.

"That is going to be part of what brings down some of our statistics. They are not going to differentiate between native and non-native, but in the compilation, those (native poverty, life expectancy and education) figures obviously bring down our stats," an official said.

I will be eager to see the full report next week.

Source.