Bulgaria Lags Behind in Newsweek World's Best Country Ranking

The Newsweek study ranked 100 nations by economy, politics, health and quality of life. Photo by Newsweek

Bulgaria appears to be one of the worst European Union countries to live in, according to a Newsweek magazine ranking that compared living conditions in 100 countries around the world.

In the magazine’s analysis, Bulgaria was judged at spot 38 in the general ranking, right before Romania, but lagging behind Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary and all the Baltic states.

The analysis examined factors such as education and health care, quality of life, economic dynamism, and political environment.

The American news magazine ranked Finland top out of the one hundred countries, followed by Switzerland and Sweden. The United States was in 11th place. The final three were the African nations Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Cameroon.

The analysis of educational systems used factors such as the international PISA studies, as well as measures of efficiency and the educational level of the population at large. In this, Finland was in first place, followed by South Korea and Canada, which were in a tie. Bulgaria made it to spot 42.

The country collected the same number of scores in the health care ranking, based on a World Health Organisation comparison examining how many years an average citizen could expect to live a full-blown life without being burdened by illness or disability. The top three were Japan, Switzerland and Sweden.

A number of factors were considered in assessing quality of life. These included gender equality, the percentage of people living in poverty, the equality of wealth distribution, the suicide rate, the state of the environment, and the proportion of employed people in the population. In this, Bulgaria was in 37th place.

Economic dynamism was gauged on the basis of GDP growth, the proportion of services and industrial output in GDP, innovations, the ease with which new companies can reach the market, and the scope of the stock market. Here Bulgaria scored its lowest marks and ranked 54th.

The quality of the political environment was gauged through a comparison of democratic freedom, the proportion of citizens involved in elections, and political stability. Bulgaria ranked 38th.

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