Norway
called second best place in the world to live
By GRACE HOUSHOLDER
According to the 1999 United Nations human development report
Norway treats women better than any other country in the world.
The report also stated Norway is in second place, behind Canada,
as the best place to live.
The U.N. survey, released in July, ranked 174 nations according
to how people live, factoring in health care, life expectancy,
education and income.
The top countries for quality of life were Canada, Norway, the
United States, Japan, Belgium, Sweden, Australia, the Netherlands,
Iceland, Britain, France, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Denmark,
Austria, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Italy and Ireland.
In the "gender empowerment" survey, which ranked countries
according to how well they treat women, the top 10 countries
were Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Germany, Finland, Iceland,
the United States, Australia and the Netherlands.
The "gender empowerment" survey measured how many women
hold elected positions in government, how many women have professional
or technical jobs and how much women earn, per capita.
During our 13-day stay in Norway, we met a number of women who
were vacationing with older children and/or with female friends
while husbands stayed home to work and watch younger children.
Now that's equality in action!
These are some things we observed that Norway doesn't have:
· poverty
· litter (except in Bergen)
· billboards
· overweight people
· bald men
· ice cubes ... with a few exceptions
· easy to find public drinking fountains
· the sound of crickets at night
This is what Norway does have:
· high taxes on almost everything including food
· high prices
· clean, modern public restrooms - but keep two to five
kroner handy (less than a dollar) because occasionally you have
to pay
· skilled, polite drivers, especially truck drivers
· friendly people who, for the most part, speak English
well
· heated tile bathroom floors in homes ... nice!
· beautiful wood construction in homes and public buildings
· flowers
· ice cream
· good beds with wonderful down comforters
· fish for breakfast
· narrow, winding, steep roads, some with many tunnels
· constantly changing, spectacular views - except in the
tunnels!
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