You live in one of the best places on Earth

Auckland has ranked consistently high in life-quality and development surveys. Photo / Paul Estcourt

New Zealand is the third-best country to live in the world, according to the latest United Nations index, which is aimed at measuring development.

The report, "The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development", highlights countries with the greatest progress as measured by the Human Development Index (HDI).

The index calculates the well-being in 169 countries, taking into account health, education and income, which are combined to generate a score between zero and one. The countries are grouped into four categories: very high, high, medium, and low.

New Zealand was named 20th in 2009 and this year is just behind Norway and Australia, first and second respectively.

The country's score has been rising by 0.5 per cent a year between 1980 and 2010 from 0.786 to 0.907 today, placing it in the "very high" category.

New Zealand's life expectancy is 80.6 years, the average number of school years is 12.5 and gross national income per capita is $25,438 (NZ$32,046).

But the report's lead author, Jeni Klugram, warned not to compare the latest index to previous years' because different indicators and calculations have been used.

The 2010 index charts national ranking changes over five-year intervals.

"Annual changes in national HDI rankings don't tell us much about the reality of development, which is inherently a long-term process," she said.

Other high achievers are the United States (4th), Ireland (5th), Liechtenstein (6th), the Netherlands (7th), Canada (8th), Sweden (9th) and Germany (10th).

Mozambique (165th), Burundi (166th), Niger (167th), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (168th) and Zimbabwe (169th) were at the bottom of the index.

The Human Development Report 2010 was released today by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN Development Programme Administrator, and former New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark.

Helen Clark said the report showed that people today were healthy, wealthier and better educated than before.

"While not all trends are positive, there is much that countries can do to improve people's lives, even in adverse conditions. This requires courageous local leadership as well as the continuing commitment of the international community," she said.

New Zealand and Auckland have ranked consistently high in life quality and development surveys.

Last week the Lustrum Index, which rated prosperity and measured national sentiments, ranked Godzone the fifth-best place to live in the world.

The Mercer Index ranked Auckland alongside Vancouver in Canada as the fourth-best city in terms of quality of life.

According to the UN and others, New Zealand is one of the top five countries on the planet - and Auckland is

one of the top five cities

Auckland has ranked consistently high in life-quality and development surveys. Picture / Paul Estcourt

RANKING

UN Report

1) Norway.

2) Australia.

3) New Zealand.

4) United States.

5) Ireland.

Legatum Prosperity Index

1) Norway.

2) Denmark.

3) Finland.

4) Australia.

5) New Zealand.

Mercer City rankings

1) Vienna, Austria.

2) Zurich, Switzerland.

3) Geneva, Switzerland.

4th equal) Vancouver, Canada, and Auckland.

New Zealand
* 80.6 life expectancy in years

* 12.5 average number of school years

* $32,046 gross income per capita