The Best Countries in the World.(Cover Story)

Byline: Jeffrey D. Sachs (Sachs is the director of Columbia University's Earth Institute.)

Every place on the planet has something of unique beauty and significance to contribute to the "good life" on earth. Africa's open savannas awaken our sensibilities as do few places on the planet. Manhattan, Shanghai and Paris transport us to the heights of urban achievement. The verdant, terraced paddy fields of Southeast Asia show us life in rural areas of unsurpassed beauty. We would search in vain, therefore, for a single "best" spot on the planet.

Yet within this priceless diversity, certain places have solved problems of health, wealth and social cooperation more effectively than others. In some places the population boasts a life expectancy of 80 years, while in others a newborn can expect to survive only half that long. The top sixth of humanity boasts high incomes unprecedented in history, while the bottom sixth struggles for daily survival.

What makes a country work? The question is more pressing than ever, with Iraq and Afghanistan in the middle of wrenching transitions. While big countries like the United States like to tout their achievements, it is the smaller nations of northern Europe that can boast the greatest success in solving the problems of balancing competition and cooperation, capitalism and social security. Consider just about any social indicator--income per capita, health, democracy, economic competitiveness, environmental consciousness, honesty--and the Nordic world of Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland is sure to shine. These are small countries with homogeneous populations. Their incredible successes are sometimes easily put aside as "special cases." Yet they have much to tell bigger nations about paths to the good life.

For years the U.N. Development Program has measured human progress by including ...