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1. These are all small, homogenous, quiet countries 2. The UN index is really more of a "quality of life" index, with very strange/subjective criteria. For exa

• dalke 10y ago
  How do you define 'homogenous'? By most definitions I know of, Sweden is not homogenous. For example, over 9% of the residents of the country were not born in a European country. Regarding the piece from The Guardian, consider this quote: "A spokesman for the Sweden Democrats (currently at an all-time high of close to 10% in the polls) insisted to me that immigrants were "more prone to violence"." SD is an anti-immigrant party in Sweden. I find it odd that the speaker chose a source which is most likely to give a negative portrayal of immigrants. But I needn't explore that in any depth as the commenters to that piece have done so for me. FWIW, there was a followup at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/05/scandinavian-miracle-denmark-finland-iceland-norway-sweden https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/05/scandinavian-m... . The author writes (about the piece you linked to): > In trying to make myself heard above the clamour of pro-Nordic propaganda in the British (indeed, global) media, and shake a few people out of their decade-long Scandi-trances, I hereby plead guilty to a selective, provocative slant on the region.