The Best Country in Which to Be Born in 2013

The Economist magazine ran this story a few weeks ago.  The purpose was to identify, basically, the best countries in which to live.  As you can see, the first several countries are small nations with little or no diversity.  Indeed, Singapore, a dictatorship, is ranked highly, while Turkey, a dynamic and democratic society, is ranked toward the middle of the list.  Also, I've been reading a great deal about the nation of Vietnam lately, which is a developing and beautiful country, yet it is not ranked highly on this list.

Please take a look at the list and form your own impressions.  My impression is that the standards used are too random.  My "perfect" country would be one with freedom, diversity, exciting things to do and interesting people (maybe that's why I live in New York City :P).

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2013/01/daily-chart?fb_ref=activity

1)  Do you agree with these rankings?

2)  Just looking at the listings of the countries, which criteria do you think are favored most?

3)  Specifically, which countries do you think should be higher or lower?

4)  Would you want to live in any of the upper-ranked countries?  Why or why not?

5)  Do you think this listing reflects the prejudices or biases of the organization that ranked the countries?

6)  Which nation do you think is most desirable in the world these days?