(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Oman has pipped the UK the US and several European countries to be among the top nations in a quality of life survey.
A report in British daily The Independent says that the sultanate is placed seventh on an index released by Numbeo a database of user-generated content about cities and countries.
Though correspondent Louis Doré's report mainly focuses on Britain it has used the rankings of Saudi Arabia Oman and Turkmenistan to highlight the factors of index which excluded the UK from the top ten countries. The index lays emphasis on pollution healthcare safety and purchasing power among other factors.
Doré wrote 'The UK has come 16th in a quality of life index of world nations. The index placed Saudi Arabia Oman and Turkmenistan above the UK in terms of quality of life.'
The data from Numbeo the world's largest database of user-generated content about cities and countries was collated from online surveys not official government reports.
Doré adds 'The index is an estimation of overall quality of life based upon several criteria of which the highest weight is given to pollution. Numbeo says this is on the grounds that if the environment is polluted too much the economy or safety cannot fulfil it.'
'We put the second highest importance to safety since it is more important to feel safe rather than wealthy in our opinion' says the report quoting Numbeo. In terms of popularity Numbeo was mentioned or used as a source in hundreds of major publications and new channels around the world including Forbes Business Insider Time The Economist The New York Times China Daily The Telegraph and BBC.
The Independent also published the name of another website MoveHub which serves expatriate workers wishing to understand the cost of living in other cities and countries.
On MoveHub Sergiu George's June 15 report MAP: Quality of Life Around the World said 'Over the last few months we published infographic maps comparing happiness living costs disposable income and even what matters most to people around the world. The Quality of Life index is made up of a series of factors including safety healthcare consumer prices and purchasing power traffic commute pollution and property price to income ratio.'
George further writes 'There's quite a few results that are at the very least surprising like for instance Saudi Arabia being ranked sixth and Oman seventh in the world by quality of life well above the US Canada Australia and UAE. However if you dig deeper into the factors that are considered in the index things become clearer.'
It adds 'It's important to note the data was gathered from online surveys and not from official government reports. This implies that for some particular factors the data shows the perception of the local population rather than figures drawn from reports.'
According to the article the index balances the factors which make the criteria against each other. It focuses on seven main factors - safety healthcare consumer prices purchasing power traffic commute pollution and property-price-to-income.
Switzerland was ranked first by a huge margin followed by Denmark Germany and Finland. Saudi Arabia and Oman were ranked sixth and seventh above the US Canada Australia and other European countries. The significantly lower consumer price index and property prices in the GCC are described by the report as having helped Oman and Saudi Arabia get a high ranking.
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