Australia - Tops In Booze; Greeks - Cigarettes; Japan - Newspapers; Ecuador - Murders

Norwegians enjoy the world's best quality of life, followed by Icelanders and Australians, according to an updated global league table book, while Africa dominates the bottom of the list.

Australians drink the most alcohol, Greeks smoke the most cigarettes, Japan reads the most newspapers and Ecuador has the most murders per head of population, according to the Economist's Pocket World in Figures 2008.

It adds that Japan has the world's largest proportion of elderly people with 26 percent of its population over 60, while tiny European country Luxembourg has the highest GDP per capita.

While the United States and Japan remain the biggest economies, they come in at eighth and seventh respectively on the quality of life stakes, according to the book, which compares 183 countries.

Britain, which is the world's fifth biggest economy, fares even worse, at 17th in the "human development" index, which the book says denotes quality of life.

At the bottom of the scale comes the West African state of Niger, while Sierra Leone, Mali and a string of other countries from the continent fill virtually all the last 20 positions.

On the environment front, the United States again tops the list of the world's biggest producers of carbon emissions with 4 800-million tons, followed by China on 4 140-million. Russia comes in third place on 1 500-million tons.

The book, which is put together by the influential British magazine, also reveals a string of interesting facts about lifestyle trends.

Australians drink the most alcohol overall, although the famously brewery-friendly Czechs drink the most beer per capita and Portugal imbibes the most wine.

On crime, Ecuador has 18.3 murders per 100 000 inhabitants, followed by Swaziland on 13.6 and Mongolia on 12.8.

The United States has by far the biggest prison population with 2.2 million behind bars, while China carries out the most executions - 3 400 in 2004.

Some of the economic figures could raise eyebrows, especially in the Economist's home country.

For example, house price inflation, which has rocketed in Britain in recent years, is actually highest in South Africa, where prices rose 351 percent from 1997-2006, followed by Ireland on 253 percent and Britain on 196 percent.

"The surprising finds this year are that there are two countries where house prices have gone up by more than us over the past decade; and that we spend the most per head on music," said the book's editor, Stephen Brough.

The book also includes an update of the Economist's so-called "Big Mac" index, which attempts to reflect purchasing power by the cost of a McDonald's burger.

The cheapest is in China at $1.41, with Hong Kong on $1.54 and Malaysia on $1.57, while the most expensive Big Mac in the world is to be found in Iceland, at nearly $7. (Independent Online)
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