The Economist | 2 September 2014
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The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has attempted to measure which country will provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in the years ahead.
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Its quality-of-life index links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys—how happy people say they are—to objective determinants of the quality of life across 
countries. Being rich helps more than anything else, but it is not all that counts; things like crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life matter too. In all, the index takes 11 statistically significant indicators into account. They are a mixed bunch: some are fixed factors, such as geography; others change only very slowly over time (demography, many social and cultural characteristics); and some factors depend on policies and the state of the world economy.
A forward-looking element comes into play, too. Although many of the drivers of the quality of life are slow-changing, for this ranking some variables, such as income per head, need to be forecast. This survey uses the EIU’s economic forecasts to 2030, which is roughly when children born in 2013 will reach adulthood.
What does all this, and likely developments in the years to come, mean for where a baby might be luckiest to be born in 2013? After crunching its numbers, the EIU has Switzerland comfortably in the top spot, with Australia second.
But maybe Australia’s grip on that estimable position is precarious, given the radical social agenda (including its approach to education across-the- board) of the Abbott government. Here’s a thought from Norelle Freeman of Darlinghurst (Last Post, The Australian, 25 April 2014):
I am curious about the pejorative use of the word entitlement. It used to be the case in Australia, that one felt pride to have a job, to have fair pay, to have respect was normal. Joe Hockey should know that. Sadly many politicians have sullied the word as they are most guilty of expecting things for which others pay.
