The 19 countries with the highest standard of life

The countries with the highest quality of life have been announced by the think-tank Social Progress Imperative.

Scandinavian nations scored highly in the "Social Progress Report," but more surprising are the very large countries which came lower down the list - suggesting that a strong GDP per capita is not the only gauge for a high standard of living.

Despite this, all of the top 19 countries are developed nations - so having a strong economy clear has an impact.

The "Social Progress Report" collates the scores of three main indexes:

• Basic Human Needs, which includes medical care, sanitation, and shelter.
• Foundations of Wellbeing, which covers education, access to technology, and life expectancy.
• Opportunity, which looks at personal rights, freedom of choice, and general tolerance.

The index then adds the three different factors together, before giving each nation a score out of 100. You can see the countries with the highest quality of life below.