Oil-rich Norway remains the best country in the world to live in, while Zimbabwe, afflicted by economic crisis and AIDS, is the least desirable, according to an annual U.N. rating released on Thursday.
The assessment came in a so-called human development index, a measure of well-being published by the U.N. Development Program for the past 20 years that combines individual economic prosperity with education levels and life expectancy.
The UNDP placed Norway, Australia and New Zealand at the top and Niger -- last year's back-marker -- the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe at the bottom, as Western countries again led the list while sub-Saharan African nations trailed.
Japan headed the field in life expectancy, at 83.6 years, with Afghanistan last at little more than half of that -- 44.6 years. The tiny Alpine state of Liechtenstein had by far the highest per capita annual income -- $81,011, 460 times higher than last-placed Zimbabwe on $176.
Overall, the index contained some significant changes near the top compared with last year, with the United States rising to fourth from 13th and Iceland -- hard hit by the global financial crisis -- plummeting to 17th from third.
But UNDP officials said the figures were not fully comparable due to changes in calculation methods this year.
Per capita gross national income, which includes aid and remittances, has been used instead of gross domestic product, while in education literacy levels have been replaced by average years of schooling.
Due to difficulties in obtaining the required figures from some countries, only 169 of the 192 U.N. member states were graded.
(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)
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(Agencies)
聯合國本周四發布「人類發展指數」年度排行榜，富產石油的挪威再次穩居榜首，飽受經濟危機和愛滋病困擾的辛巴威排名墊底。
聯合國開發計劃署發布「人類發展指數」已有20年歷史，該指數是綜合考慮個人經濟狀況、教育水平、平均壽命等因素而得出的一項生活品質衡量指標。
在聯合國開發計劃署公布的該榜單中，挪威、澳大利亞、紐西蘭名列前三甲，去年墊底的尼日、剛果民主共和國和辛巴威排在最末。西方國家再次領跑榜單，撒哈拉以南非洲國家被甩在後面。
日本以83.6歲的人均壽命在該評比中居首，而排在末位的阿富汗人均壽命僅為44.6歲，剛超過日本的一半。阿爾卑斯山小國列支敦斯登目前是全球人均年收入最高的國家，為81011美元，比排名倒數第一、人均年收入僅有176美元的辛巴威高出460倍。
總體來看，與去年相比，今年榜單上排名靠前的國家有很大變化。美國從第13位上升至第4位，受全球金融危機重創的冰島從第3位下滑至第17位。
但聯合國開發計劃署的官員表示，由於計算方法與去年不同，榜單並不完全可比。
今年的計算標準採用了包含援助和匯款的人均國民收入，而捨棄了國內生產總值，教育程度的衡量標準則採用了平均受教育年限，捨棄了識字率。
由於在一些國家收集數據存在難度，聯合國192個成員中僅有169個參加了此次調查。
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（中國日報網英語點津 Julie 編輯：馮明惠）