Iceland has overtaken
Norway as the world's
most desirable country
Iceland has overtaken Norway as the world's most desirable country to live in, according to according to the latest UN index on human development published on Tuesday that again puts AIDS-afflicted sub-Saharan African states at the bottom.
Iceland, Norway, Australia, Canada and Ireland dominate the top places but the United States slipping to 12th place from eighth last year in the UN Human Development Index.
But the index finds that all 22 countries falling into its "low human development" category are in sub-Saharan Africa, with Sierra Leone last.
In 10 of these countries, two children in five will not reach the age of 40, said the compilers at the UN Development Program. Last year's report said HIV/AIDS had had a "catastrophic effect" on life expectancy in the region.
The index ranks 175 UN member countries plus Hong Kong and the Palestinian territories. It does not include 17 countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, because of inadequate data.
Norway had held top spot for six years but was edged into second place by Iceland this year because of new life expectancy estimates and updated figures for gross domestic product, or GDP, the report said.
The United States scores high on real per capita GDP, which at $41,890 is second only to that of Luxembourg ($60,228), but less well on life expectancy -- joint last in the top 26 countries, along with Denmark and South Korea, at 77.9 years.
Japanese have the longest life expectancy -- 82.3 years -- and Zambians the lowest, at 40.5.
The report said most countries had seen their human development index rise over the last 30 years, but in 16 it was lower than in 1990, and in three -- the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe -- lower than in 1975.
Per capita GDP is 45 times higher in Iceland than in Sierra Leone.
The United Nations has published its human development index every year since 1990.
据联合国本周二公布的“人类发展指数”最新报告，冰岛取代挪威成为全球最适合居住的国家，饱受艾滋病之苦的撒哈拉以南非洲国家再次排在最后。
冰岛、挪威、澳大利亚、加拿大和爱尔兰在“人类发展指数”排行榜上名列前茅，而美国从去年的第8位跌至第12位。
但今年的 “人类发展指数”排行显示，居于“低人类发展水平”之列的所有22个国家都位于撒哈拉以南非洲地区，塞拉利昂排在最后一名。
据联合国开发计划署的编撰人员介绍，在其中的10个国家，五分之二的儿童活不到40岁。去年的“人类发展指数”报告称，艾滋病对这一地区的人均预期寿命造成了“灾难性的影响”。
该指数共对175个联合国成员国以及中国香港地区和巴勒斯坦进行了排名，但伊拉克、阿富汗和索马里等17个国家因数据不充分，未参与排名。
此前，挪威在过去的六年里一直占据榜首，但今年，由于最新统计的人均预期寿命和国内生产总值两项数据被冰岛赶超，因此下降至第二位。
美国的人均实际GDP高达4.189万美元，仅次于卢森堡的6.0228万美元；但人均预期寿命得分相对较低，以77.9岁与丹麦和韩国并列第26名。
日本的人均预期寿命最长，为82.3岁；赞比亚最短，只有40.5岁。
报告称，大多数国家和地区的人类发展指数在过去三十年中都有所上升，但今年有16个国家的指数低于1990年，刚果民主共和国、赞比亚和津巴布韦的指数低于1975年。
冰岛的人均GDP为塞拉利昂的45倍。
联合国从1990年开始发布“人类发展指数”年度报告。
