Norwegians enjoy the highest standard of living in the world. The oil-rich Scandinavian country, with its well-developed social welfare system, landed first place on the 2009 United Nations Index for Human Development. Australia and Iceland took second and third places, respectively, and Germany took a disappointing 22nd place out of 182 countries.

Germany's relatively low rank was partly due to a sinking per capita income in the wake of reunification, the report said. Other industrialized nations have increased their standing. France, for instance, climbed to eighth place from 11th in the ranking. Ireland ranked fifth, Austria 14th and Spain 15th.

"Progress is unevenly distributed," said Jeni Klugman, the main author of the report. "Many countries have experienced setbacks in the past decades in the face of economic recession, conflict - crises and the HIV/AIDS epidemic setbacks experienced," she said.

Dramatic differences in life expectancy

The worst results were for the African country of Niger. A child who is born in Niger can expect to live to be just 50 years old - 30 years less than a child born in Norway, according to the report. Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic were also at the bottom of the list.

The index combined values for life expectancy, literacy, school enrollment rates and gross domestic product per capita to arrive at an "aggregate measure of human welfare." The latest comparable data come from the year 2007.

smh/EPD/Reuters
Editor: Nancy Isenson