Czech Republic has a higher Quality of Life than the USA, according to new 2019 Index

The Czech Republic’s quality of life has been rated 24th out of a total of 149 countries in the 2019 Quality of Life Index, representatives from the Deloitte company revealed to local press this morning.

The country jumps two positions over 2018, when the Czech Republic was rated #26, and also leapfrogs the USA for the very first time. The United States came in at #26 in this year’s Quality of Life Index.

“Even the richest countries have weak spots they must address,” Deloitte President Josef Kotrba told ČTK.

“Worldwide, we should be concerned about the decline of personal rights. It is even happening in the cradle of democracy, like the USA.”

To determine scores in the 2019 Quality of Life Index, countries were ranked according to three main categories: Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing, and Opportunity. These categories included sub-indices such as Personal Safety, Medical Care, Environmental Quality, Access to Basic Knowledge, and Personal Freedom.

The Czech Republic ranked highest in the Basic Human Needs category, coming in at #15 of the 149 countries surveyed, and ranked #24 in Opportunity and #31 in Foundations of Wellbeing.

In a number of subrankings, however, the Czech Republic ranked at or tied for #1. These included Undernourishment (2.5% of the population), Access to Electricity (100%), Adult Literacy Rate (99%), Mobile Telephone Subscriptions (119%[!]), and Early Marriage (0%).

As in most of these surveys, Scandinavian countries dominated the top of the quality of life rankings, with Norway taking the #1 position. Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden rounded out the top five.

New Zealand (#7), Canada (#9), Japan (#10), and the Republic of Korea (#23) were the only non-European countries to rank in the top 25.

Czech neighbors Germany (#8) and Austria (#20) also rated highly in the new Quality of Life Index. The Czech Republic ranked ahead of its other neighbors in the 2019 Quality of Life index, however, with Poland coming in at #33 and Slovakia at #35.

“If we compare the countries of the Visegrad Four, the Czech Republic is far ahead of Slovakia, Hungary and Poland,” Kotrba added.

Among the 149 countries surveyed in the index, the lowest quality of life was found in African nations South Sudan, Central African Republic, Chad, Eritrea, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

These are the world’s top 25 countries according to the 2019 Deloitte Quality of Life Index: