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Denmark has the Second Best Quality of Life in the World

According to the inaugural Quality of Nationality Index, Denmark has been ranked second in the world three years in a row.

Quality of Nationality Index (QNI) provides a comprehensive ranking of the quality of nationalities worldwide. To gauge the opportunities and limitations that our nationalities impose on us, the QNI measures both the internal value of nationality, which refers to the quality of life within a nationality’s country of origin, and the external value of nationality, which identifies the diversity and quality of opportunities that nationalities allow us to pursue outside our countries of origin.

The index takes internal factors (including scale of economy, human development, peace and stability) and external factors (such as visa-free travel and ability to work conditions) into consideration.

With a score of 83%, Denmark was just pipped by top nation Germany (83.1%), while the Nordic quartet of Finland (82), Norway (81.7), Iceland (81.6) and Sweden (81.6) followed to make up the top six.

The reality that the QNI describes is in many respects regrettable: in the absolute majority of circumstances our nationality plays an important role in establishing a highly irrational ceiling for our opportunities and aspirations, reflecting the core aspect of being a national of some place, which is a random act of birth boasting no correlation with any person’s achievements, ideas, feelings and desires – “a birthright lottery” in the memorable phrase of Aylet Shachar. This is something that the designers of the index do not endorse, but observe as part of the day-to-day reality, which the index aims to document. The QNI, updated annually, is the source of a dynamic understanding of the quality of world nationalities measured based on a set of clear and transparent criteria.