Ghana 92nd best country to live in, index says

An American magazine has ranked Ghana 92nd on a list of 194 world countries in terms of overall quality of life.

The Quality of Life Index, published by International Living magazine for the 30th year, puts Ghana ahead of neighbors Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Togo & Burkina Faso

France came in first for the fifth year running in the magazine’s annual Quality of Life Index for 2010, which ranks 194 countries according to nine categories: cost of living, culture and leisure, the economy, environment, freedom, safety and risk, health, infrastructure and climate.

The top 10 nations on the list were: France; Australia, Switzerland, Germany, New Zealand, Luxembourg, the United States, Belgium, Canada and Italy.

Afghanistan, Chad, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia are the bottom of the list.

“This isn’t about best value, necessarily. It’s about the places in the world where the living is, simply put, great,” International Living said of its index this year. Sources used to compose the index included “government Web sites, the World Health Organization, and The Economist, to name but a few. We also take into account what our editors from all over the world have to say about our findings.”

Ghana’s 92nd place ranking -- coming in with an overall score of 56, ties with China and ahead of nations such as Kuwaiti, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Russia, but behind countries such as Albania, Jamaica and South Africa -- breaks down as follows: cost of living (61), leisure and culture (28), economy (44), environment (67), freedom (92), health (40), infrastructure (40), risk and safety (71) and climate (62).