title. We live in interesting times. Those especially traveled, would love to hear your input.
Norway or Finland probably.
Norway or Finland probably. I keep hearing about Norway. A streamer from twitch went over there and got a whole education then came back to the US. I believe she had dual citizenship though. It seems like a nice place to live. I would just worry about my neighbors being Russia.
It is a nice place to live. And you don’t have to be a dual citizen to go to school here, though undergrad degrees are taught in Norwegian, so one needs some language proficiency.
The public services are incredible and the people and nature are amazing.
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We don’t have a strong gun culture. We have a lot of guns pers capita but those are mostly shotguns and hunting rifles. The vast majority of people don’t own guns but the ones that do have many.
What we do have however is a strong competent military and a border that due to its terrain would be an absolute pain to try invade us thru. NATO membershit helps too.
What’s that funny story again about one Finnish soldier in the woods decimating 1000 Russian soldiers?
During winter war soviet general hears someone shouting from wood - “One finnish soldier is better than ten soviet”. Angry general sends ten man to deal with annoying Fin. After short period of shots and dying soviets screams, comes another shout - “One finnish soldier is better than hundred soviet”. General sends hundred soldier and again none of them comes back. Then general hears third shout - “One finnish soldier is better than thousand soviets”. Furious general sends thousand man to deal with him. This time one of his soldiers manage to survive and reports to general - “Sir, please don’t send more of our troops, it’s a trap, there’s two of them”.
Every country has lots of struggles. There are a few European cities I would consider close to perfect but when leaving said cities things can become more difficult in the same country. Vienna and Copenhagen might be my two favorites. Rent is still fairly affordable in both cities especially given the available salaries. Both have great public transportation, lots of green spaces, good access to education and healthcare, and a healthy entertainment sector. Both countries are doing fairly decent overall. Denmark is probably ahead of Austria because Austria has a bigger right-wing. So by extension I would say Denmark might be as close as it gets.
Obviously there will be a few smaller towns that are even better but they are too small to consider.
When talking about a whole country a lot of it comes down to personal ranking on what you consider important. When leaving central & northern Europe the relative income drops significantly in most other nations. Which would matter for some as it affects the possibility of traveling, while for other it doesn’t.
Many of the pacific island nations have a surprisingly high standard of living despite poverty being an issue. But even if you don’t care about money and would rank the relaxed living there over the working culture in Europe there is another issue that affects some. Abortion is illegal in most of them, it’s usually allowed for medical reasons, especially if the life of the pregnant woman is in danger. But for some the lack of access to abortion would totally dismiss these countries from consideration while others prefer them for it.
Singapore could rank very high but the fact that there is the death penalty for drug related crimes is a huge red flag for many. But again, others even agree with it.Japan. My brother lives there, I’ve visited and spent some time there four times so far, about to head back for a fifth. Most civilised country I’ve ever been in. Yes, it isnt perfect, and has its issues and defects, but on the whole we in the West could learn a lot from Japan, just as Japan once learnt from us back in the 50’s and 60’s. Unfortunately the West is too arrogant, and will not swallow its pride and have the humility to admit that someone else has a better way to live, or be willing to learn. Every country in the world can teach us something, we just need to be willing to learn
There are lots of things I could criticize Japan for, but the country’s approach to zoning and land use is just objectively the best. Japan’s cities and overall built environment are obviously better than ours (in the US) to such a ridiculous degree, that I’m not sure why we don’t send all of our municipal planners over there to just take notes.
That is something I didnt know, but given how little buildable land they have for so many people that comes as no surprise when I think about it
I live in Japan. I love the place. Has issues like any other country, but pale in comparison. Life is safe and tranquil, beautiful country.
I’m in New Zealand which has a reputation for being safe and tranquil (and it is… in some parts). Japan lives up to it practically everywhere, even the big cities. And yes Japans issues pale in comparison to ours, just as our pale in comparison to places like the USA or South Africa
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Food in general there is really good, it is a healthier society in many ways beyond that too
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Usa evolving ?
You ever seen a horror movie where a miserable ooze gets pulled out of a growth vat and begs for the sweet release of death? Like that, but they milk the ooze for profit.
Devolving
Uh… What? The USA has been evolving backwards if anything.
Guys, check it out, the trash heap spontaneously combusted! Ah, the miracle of evolution.
As a citizen in the USA, I feel like late stage capitalism is really killing us via monopolies but that small-medium sized businesses still bring hope and continue to inspire. I also appreciate that if I don’t like where I live I can try any of the other 49 states without needing to establish myself as a citizen, save for my drivers license to operate a vehicle. The cultures are vastly different depending on where you live. I’ve lived in both progressive and conservative parts of the country.
I’m paying attention more lately to what benefits state-level legislation offers. Some states offer free tuition if you graduate from high school there which is amazing.
It is worth noting that before Canada had a national universal healthcare system, a few provinces had one. There was an attempt to establish one in Vermont.
This right here is the biggest bullshit I’ve read this year
The US is teetering on the edge of fascism, with bigotry appearing in more and more places every day.
It’s actively working to reduce the diversity you’re talking about
Anywhere with one of those social market economies is looking good right now compared to the rest of us trying to survive in free market capitalism. I know the differences may not seem too obvious on the surface but my country has pretty much outsourced all aspects of governing to the private market. We used to have quite a robust social safety net and now we’re just like a mini America and it fucking sucks.
Antarctica.
Er… Well I guess that’s a continent, not a country. 🤔 It still has the best government and population, tho. Nothing else comes close.
Have you ever seen a sad penguin? No. That’s because Antarctica is perfect. Qed.
I have to say, living in Antarctica would be pretty cool
I don’t think any country gets very close. I do hear Denmark here and I suppose that’s a good country to live in, but I would just say most of Europe in general is a very good place to live. The european parliament mostly does the right thing, the social insurance and health care is decent all over Europe, the pay is usually sufficient to live comfortably even for lower paid jobs, etc… From Spain to the baltics, from Norway to Cyprus, life is pretty comfortable but nowhere near perfect.
Countries or regions in Europe I personally would avoid to go live: Portugal, Greece, the southern Balkans, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Romania. But almost all other countries in Europe are decent places and even within those countries there are usually good places, just like there are bad places in the “good” countries.
