Idyllic Iceland

That well meaning white elephant the United Nations is probably not the most efficient organisation in the world, especially when it come to weighty matters like curbing war and genocide. What they are past masters at, however, is the publication of reports and surveys. One of their more interesting efforts is the compilation of a list of the countries with the best quality of life in the world. Putting criteria like life expectancy, access to health care, education and social services into the pot they come up with the best and worst places to live. For what seems like an eternity Canada has strolled home in first place, scoring very high on all counts. Iceland, however, is not that far behind regularly making it into the top ten

First of all, the general health of the nation is unrivalled anywhere in the world. The average life expectancy on the island is 78 for men and over 80 for women. This is even more impressive when you consider the sober fact that one in three people contract cancer, Iceland's biggest killer, during their lifetime. There is probably no one reason for health of the nation, rather a complex combination of factors. For a start good old-fashioned peace and quiet should not be under estimated. Icelanders are very few in number given the size of the country.300, 000 people inhabit 103,000 sq. kilometres working out at about 3 inhabitants per sq. kilometre. To put this luxury in perspective, Belgium and Holland, for example, enjoy a hundred times less elbow room. As a resident I can testify first hand that it is possibly the quietest, most peaceful city on the face of the planet. I was given a stark reminder of this fact in 2004 when I went to live in Barcelona for a year.

Crime or rather the lack of it is another significant factor. With a murder rate that runs at less than three a year and stressful violations like burglary and mugging, relatively rare, there is a strong sense of personal safety and well-being. The quality of the environment also comes high on the credit list. Clean air and minimal levels of pollution have resulted in the some of the lowest levels of respiratory ailments in Europe. This factor also extends to the quality of food production. Fresh and clean it provides an excellent diet of Icelanders and helps to ward off disease. Icelanders eat a lot of fresh fish and free-range lamb. Fish is taken from unpolluted north Atlantic waters while lambs for the slaughter spend their short lives eating pristine mountain grass and drinking crystal clear water.

Add to this a high general standard of living, a well developed health care system and fully integrated social services it's not hard to see why Iceland comes high on the wish list of places to live.

John Boyce