Qualidade de Vida

Sempre fui um fanático por estatísticas e adoro a revista The Economist, que para mim é simplesmente a mais respeitada publicação semanal do mundo.

Por isso, fiquei muito feliz em mais uma vez encontrar duas cidades canadenses no ranking divulgado pela Economist Intelligence Unit dentre as dez melhores do mundo em qualidade de vida.

Não sei em que colocação se encontra o Rio de Janeiro (cidade onde moramos) no ranking atual, mas em 2005 as três cidades latino-americanas que melhor ofereciam condições de vida se encontravam empatadas na 64o posição, o que me parece lamentável.

Obviamente não tomamos a decisão de nos mudarmos simplesmente com base em rankings, mas este tipo de notícia me deixa ainda mais convicto que estamos no caminho certo.

Liveability
Where the grass is greener
Aug 22nd 2007From Economist.com
Cities in Australia and Canada are rated the most liveable in the world
With low crime, little threat from instability or terrorism and a highly developed transport and communications infrastructure, Canada and Australia are home to the most liveable destinations in the world. Four of the ten most liveable cities surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit are in Australia, and two of the top five are Canadian. Vancouver is the most attractive destination, with a liveability index of just 1.3%.

While liveability considers factors of recreational and cultural activity, the "big city buzz" can hamper the scores of some cities, although not to the extent that a city will present significant challenges. Global centres such as New York, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong and Paris may find themselves let down precisely because of their size and attractiveness. Traffic congestion and higher crime rates associated with large urban centres have, to some extent, offset the obvious cultural gains of living in such locations. This has also been compounded by fears that large centres like London and New York will remain targets for high-profile terror attacks. Despite this, most major centres do not present any significant challenges to liveability.
Of the 132 cities surveyed, only nine cities present the worst-case scenario in which most aspects of living quality are severely restricted, reflecting general improvements on a global scale in areas such as education, health care and infrastructure. Four of these are in Asia, mainly South Asia. The other five are in Africa (accounting for three) and the Middle East (accounting for two).
The threat of terrorism and civil unrest is a major contributing factor to the cities that suffer from the worst liveability scores, as are poor development indicators. Algiers is the least liveable destination in the survey, with a score of 64.7%.