Europe: News

|20090623| Under stated.
Somalia, Zimbabwe and Sudan definitely are. Failed states, that is. According to the recent Failed States Index, published by the Fund for Peace, a research organization that promotes pacifist ideologies. That's not if somebody was really surprised. It's been the same for years and there was only one new entry in the top ten comparing to the last year's results. What's more interesting, however, is the bottom, which is almost exclusively occupied by the European states. Thank God, as this time bottom means precedence. The only major change in the last ten this year was the Netherlands replacing heavily battered Iceland. The usual Australasian suspects, Australia and New Zealand, diluted the remaining Europeans: Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, Sweden and Finland. Topped, or rather bottomed, the list, as always, Norway, who never surrendered its supremacy since the European states were included in the index.
It just feels that the index would look more natural and interesting had it been overturned, doesn't it?

|20090428| Deutsch über alles.
The top ten from this year's Quality of living survey by Mercer Human Resource didn't have any new entries comparing to 2008. But the top two, Vienna and Zurich, swapped places with the Austrian capital becoming the most comfortable city to live this year. Swiss (Zurich, Geneva and Bern) and German (Dusseldorf, Munich and Frankfurt) triplets complete the seven European places with the remaining three going to Vancouver, Auckland and Sydney.
Sprechen Sie Deutsch? If not, it might be the right time to consider it.

|20081008| Losing ground.
The majority in the top ten from the Global Competitiveness Index 2008-2009 are still from Europe but it's only six this year with the UK being dumped outside. It's attributed to the fact that Britain is believed to have suffered most because of the latest credit crunch. The main victim of the financial turbulence, however, remains firmly on top of the list. Not only the US managed to improve their last year's score, they also significantly increased their gap to the second-placed Swiss. So far the Americans even fall competitively but it is suggested the current crisis may be fully reflected only in the next year's report so we'll wait and see. Except for Switzerland, the other European states retaining their leading places were Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands.
The report is published yearly by the World Economic Forum, a not-profit organization based in Geneva.

|20080521| Europe rests in peace.
Europe is the most peaceful region in the world according to the 2nd Global Peace Index released yesterday by Vision of Humanity initiative. European countries occupied 8 places of the top ten with Iceland, Denmark and Norway leading the pack.
Yet again, the Nordic countries set a great example of the standard of living.

|20080115| If you love somebody, set them free.
Europe is the most free region in the world according to the 14th annual Index of Economic Freedom released today by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. Despite the fact that only Ireland (3rd), Switzerland (9th) and the UK (10th) made it to the top ten, overall Europe outplayed the Americas with the score 66.8 to 61.6.
Some may see too much economic freedom translating into the Wild, Wild West concept, however.

|20071128| Northern stars.
The U.N. Human Development Index 2007 published yesterday clearly shows that Europe is still the best place to live as it is home to seven from the first ten entries on the list. The six-time winner, Norway, was overtaken by Iceland, who was a regular runner-up lately. Australia, Canada and Japan are the only non-European countries in the top ten while the US is surprisingly missing.
The index examines such factors as life expectancy, educational levels and per capita income and actually has a two year lag because it operates on the data for 2005.
Good to be up North, just the weather might be a bit of a challenge.

|20071114| They've got the power.
The results of this year's study on the Purchasing Power in Europe was made available by German GfK Group yesterday. In total, there were 40 countries examined, excluding Russia, combining Switzerland and Liechtenstein into one and splitting Serbia and Montenegro into two. As expected, the combined Switzerland and Liechtenstein tandem got the most power yet again with more than 40 times more disposable money than the last entry on the list, Moldova.
In banks they trust, and rightly so.

|20071031| Still standing.
Seven countries in the top ten from the Global Competitiveness Index 2007-2008 are in Europe but the winner is still overseas. Switzerland is in second position followed by Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Finland while the UK and the Netherlands complete the decade.
The Index is part of the Global Competitiveness Report published yearly since 2004 by the World Economic Forum, a not-profit organization based in Geneva.
But that's probably hardly related to the fact that the Swiss came second.

|20071016| Look who's talking.
An index measuring the level of press freedom in 169 countries throughout the world was published today by Reporters Without Borders for the sixth year running. The first 14 positions belong to European countries with Iceland and Norway joint leaders. Since last year, Eritrea replaced North Korea in last place while Turkmenistan remained in the bottom three.
Ever wondered why there's so many right words said in Europe with so little being done? This is probably why.

|20071015| Mama said, go to Swedes.
The recently published Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) shows that Sweden is the clear winner as far as the immigration laws are concerned. Portugal was a remote second while Belgium, Netherlands and Finland also made it into the top five. Full details are available in the Law section.
As always, mama was right.

|20070920| Was it worth it? Hard to say and hard to pay.
The European Brand Institute released the report report on the most valuable brand corporations and most valuable single brands in Europe with Finnish Nokia topping the both.
Not surprisingly, the UK, Germany and France are the major contributors (45%) to the cummulative value of all the examined European brands.
Still, according to other researches, including the one from Millward Brown Optimor, most of the world's most valuable brands reside overseas.

|20070825| Where the grass is greener? Not in Europe, apparently.
The recently published survey by Economist suggests the best cities to live are in Canada and Australia. The only European representatives in Top 10 are Vienna, Copenhagen, Geneva and Zurich.
The results are slightly different from those presented earlier in the year in the Quality of Living Survey by Mercer Human Resource where Europe was favoured much more. They used some other criteria, probably.
Thanks God, it's still not the worst place to live.