Science has finally proved that yes, we are incredibly brilliant.
It's been a long time coming, but we have finally been proved right in our constant assertion that Ireland really is the best place on Earth. Apart from the fact that there are a load of Irish bars in every city in the world and everyone thinks we're great (no word on if those factors were part of the decision making process) the folks at the Good Country Index have crunched the numbers on available data from the United Nations and put Ireland top of the pile.
According to The Examiner, the GCI people said that “For the size of its economy, [Ireland’s] combined global contributions to science and technology; culture, international peace and security; world order; planet and climate; prosperity and equality; and the health and wellbeing of humanity, outranks those of any other country.”
The list above lays out the parameters on which the whole index is ranked, with the scores in each section aggregated to declare a final winner. We manged to beat competition from Finland and Switzerland who round out the top three places, while the rest of the top ten is made up entirely of European nations, apart from New Zealand. They might have beaten us in heartbreaking fashion last year in the rugby, but we're better than them at everything else so who's laughing now All Blacks?
The bottom of the table won't make pleasant reading for residents of Iraq, Vietnam, or Libya who all sit down in what would be the relegation zone, were this a sporting league table.
Via The Examiner and The Good Country Index
