safest place to live

[vollerbo]

taking into consideration, war, natural disaster, risk of flooding, avalanche, famine, volcanoes etcetc where on this earth would be considered the safest place to live?

[jno]

England, probably. Occasional heavy rain and once in a while the temperature dips below zero, but it's seldom too hot or cold, no bushfires, no quakes, floods, famines.

[funkymoped]

on earth !
i was gonna say the moon but im told there is little or no atmosphere.....
i think any remote island.. for me it would be the Greek Islands.
:-)

[keyplus90]

Go on the top of Mount Everest. Do not forget your electric blanket.

[vollerbo]

too much litter on way up everest what with bodies and oxi tanks. Moons a good one but too expensive

[vehelpfulguy]

I have a book "The top 10 of everything". In it they have a list of the Most Livable Countries.

This was compiled by the United Nations based on all sorts of factors including life expectancy, adult literacy, and earnings per GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

The top 10 were

1) Norway - rating 0.963

2) Iceland - 0.956

3) Australia - 0.955

4) Canada / Luxembourg / Sweden - 0.949

7) Switzerland - 0.947

8) Ireland - 0.946

9) Belgium - 0.945

10) USA - 0.944

The UK was rated at 0.939

I am not sure how they get the numbers, some complex statistical analysis I suppose

[vollerbo]

thankyou, its one of those silly things I have always wanted to khow!

[vehelpfulguy]

If you are interested the LEAST livable countries were

1) Niger 0.281

2) Sierra Leone 0.298

3) Burkina Faso - 0.317

4) Mali - 0.333

5) Chad - 0.341

6) Guinea Bissau - 0.348

7) Central African Republic - 0.355

8) Ethiopia - 0.367

9) Burundi - 0.378

10) Mozambique - 0.379

[vollerbo]

Even better, thanks. Won't be going there on holiday! What is the book title and author? It sounds just what I need.

[Emmeedask]

If you stay clear of that old Triangle and dont mind a really windy day during hurricane season (june - november) then I think Bermuda is safe :)

[4getmenot]

In a box under the stairs

[jno]

livability isn't the same as safety. The USA is very livable but you stand a better than average chance of being shot, caught in tornadoes and ice storms and hurricanes (think New Orleans and Katrina) and earthquakes (San Francisco). Even famine, believe it or not:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ebc72728-122f-11dd-9 b49-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

And if things do go wrong there's no NHS.

As for the other livable countries, they're mostly prone to extremes of heat or cold - apart from Belgium, which may well not exist in 20 years' time, which is hardly safe!

Lovely place to visit, wonderful people. But for safety you're probably best off where you are now.

[Emmeedask]

Yeh jno,

but Belgium is all just a reminder of long coach rides for school trips and a disturbing name for their language that makes you think of being unwell
- FLEMISH -

As you can probably tell I do not have fond memories of the place!

[jno]

It can be lovely, Emmeedask - try Bruges or Antwerp. But the French and Dutch halves of the country don't really get on.

If Flemish doesn't sound good, how'd you like being called a Walloon!

[Emmeedask]

Oh the towns, the architecture, the laid back ambience is a winner as I remember. It was just the getting to, travelling round with, and listening to 39 other school girls that put me off. I sat holding sick bags for friends on the ferry over and it just set the tone for the rest of the trip for me :(

Maybe one day i'll try again. By plane!

And what the !NORMAN! is Walloon all about?

[vehelpfulguy]

>What is the book title and author?

The book is called The Top 10 of Everything by Russell Ash.

It usually comes out around Xmas time, and is the same size as the Guiness book of records.

It is similar to the Guiness Book of Records, but lists all its facts in top 10s.

http://www.russellash.com/top10ofeverything200 8.htm

For example did you know that the largest University in the world is the Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga in India with 515,000 students !

[vehelpfulguy]

> livability isn't the same as safety.

Agreed, the question was skewed towards safety rather than "nice to live".

But my list was just one measure, I am sure there are lots of diferent ways to measure the safest or best country in the world.

(And of course parts of a country can be very safe, another part very unsafe. I am sure the streets in the rough part of Los Angeles could be very unsafe, but living in a small town in the middle of nowhere very safe)

[vollerbo]

re book: thanks I will get that.
jno. You answered exactly what I am trying to find out! God knows why though but I want everything you said. I wonder if a place exists?!

[jno]

Emmeedask, the Walloons are the French-speaking Belgians (actually Walloon is a sort of dialect version of French). But you can go by Eurostar to Brussels and then travel on free to anywhere else in Belgium, just show your Eurostar ticket to the conductor.

vehelpfulguy, remember that it's the small American towns that always harbour the vampires and suchlike. Seeing Blue Velvet or Texas Chainsaw Massacre should be proof enough.

Actually, vollerbo, I suppose it's a bit OTT to say England doesn't have floods - it does have some these days, if you live on floodplains. But otherwise I think it must be one of the safest places anywhwere.

[taichiperson]

"Go on the top of Mount Everest. Do not forget your electric blanket. "

I wouldn't like to spend much time at the top of Everest - well into the death zone!!! Above 23,000 feet (feel free to correct me) the body basically begins to die....