Korea 19th best country for child to be born By Kim Bo-eun Switzerland is the best country for a child to be born in 2013, while Korea ranked 19th, according to the weekly news publication The Economist. Its affiliated Economist Intelligence Unit gave a measurement of the quality of life in 80 countries around the world based on health, wealth and trust in public institutions. While Switzerland ranked number one, it is followed by Australia and three Scandinavian countries Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Among the Asian countries, Singapore scored the highest, taking sixth place. It is followed by Hong Kong (10th), Taiwan (14th), South Korea (19th), Japan (25th) and China (49th). Geographical and environmental factors, social and cultural characteristics, life expectancy and divorce rates were among the 11 factors that were measured. The index determined the rank of each country according to its score on how well-off people born in 2013 would be in 2031, when they reach adulthood. The index links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys — personal perceptions of happiness — to objective determinants of the quality of life across countries. One of the most important factors is being wealthy but other factors also come into play including crime rates, trust in public institutions and the health of family life. The United States topped the list of 50 countries in 1988 but has not achieved the top spot since. Small economies fared well on the measurement with Australia, the Netherlands and New Zealand coming in the top 10. Half of the countries in the top 10 were European, but the Netherlands was the only member of the European Union. The largest economies in Europe including Germany, France and the United Kingdom did not show particularly favorable living conditions. Newly emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China also tended to be on the bottom half of the list. The last country on the list was Nigeria. North Korea was not included in the study.