How countries can achieve the best quality of life - and it has little to do with the economy

The countries with the highest standards of living have been announced by the think-tank Social Progress Imperative in its "Social Progress Index" (SPI) - and the results highlight it is not all about having a strong economy.

This is because there are aspects of life many people in developed nations take for granted that cannot be quantified by monetary gauges.

Using a mixture of hard data reports, expert analysis, and economic surveys, the report has collated, and scored every country in the world in three main social progress 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.

Keep scrolling to see why a high GDP does not always mean a high standard of living: