The 'Best' Countries In The World Have Changed A Lot Since 1988

The Economist Intelligence Unit recently published its "Where To Be Born in 2013" list, a measure of which countries provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in the years ahead.

WOND, an infographics and data visualization outfit based outside London, has put together a great repackaging of the data, which also included the list from 1988.

Needless to say, things have changed over the past 25 years.

With their permission, we're republishing it here. (Check them out at wond.co.uk).

And here are the measures:

• Material wellbeing as measured by GDP per head (in $, at 2006 constant PPPS)
• Life expectancy at birth
• Quality of family life, based primarily on divorce rates; the state of political freedoms; job se­curity (measured by the unemployment rate)
• Climate (measured by two variables: the average deviation of minimum and maximum monthly temperatures from 14 degrees Celsius; and the number of months in the year with less than 30mm rainfall)
• Personal physical security ratings (based primarily on recorded homicide rates and ratings for risk from crime and terrorism)
• Quality of community life (based on membership in so­cial organisations);
• Governance (measured by ratings for corruption)
• Gender equality (measured by the share of seats in parliament held by women)