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Is Nigeria Really the WORST Country to be Born In? The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Nigeria as No.80 out of 80 countries in its 2013 “Where-To-Be-Born Index”

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Nigeria is known for many things, some good and admittedly, some really bad. In recent times, there have been a number of research reports completed by international organizations and the results have not be favourable for Nigeria.

In October 2012, the African Insurance Organisation ranked Nigeria as the “Kidnap for Ransom Capital of the World” accounting for 25% of Global Kidnappings. In June 2012, the Global Peace Index ranked Nigeria as the sixth most dangerous African country to live in.

Each time such results are released, it is usually followed by debates on various online platforms with many questioning the authenticity of the results.

Yesterday, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a sister company of The Economist magazine released results of its 2013 Where-to-be-born Index. This time, Nigeria is ranked as No. 80 out of 80 countries assessed.  Basically making it the WORST country to be born in out of the countries analyzed.

In the “Where-To-Be-Born Index” 2013, Nigeria has the lowest score of 4.74 points, placing us at the 80th position.

It ranks Switzerland as the best country to be born in with 8.22 points. The United States of America and Germany tie in the 16th position with 7.38 points.

Among the African countries on the list, South Africa comes first in the 53rd position with 5.89 points followed by Algeria in the 54th position with 5.86 points.

According to the EIU, the research “earnestly attempts to measure which country will provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in the years ahead.” Read more about the research on The Economist website.

Its quality-of-life index links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys—how happy people say they are—to objective determinants of the quality of life across countries. Being rich helps more than anything else, but it is not all that counts; things like crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life matter too. In all, the index takes 11 statistically significant indicators into account. They are a mixed bunch: some are fixed factors, such as geography; others change only very slowly over time (demography, many social and cultural characteristics); and some factors depend on policies and the state of the world economy.

America, where babies will inherit the large debts of the boomer generation, languishes back in 16th place. Despite their economic dynamism, none of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) scores impressively. Among the 80 countries covered, Nigeria comes last: it is the worst place for a baby to enter the world in 2013.

Do you really think so? Is Nigeria really the  worst place for a baby to enter the world in 2013?

Adeola Adeyemo is a graduate of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from University of Lagos. However, her passion is writing and she worked as a reporter with NEXT Newspaper. She believes that anything can be written about; anything can be a story depending on the angle it is seen from and the writer's imagination. When she is not writing news or feature articles, she slips into her fantasies and creates interesting fiction pieces. She blogs at www.deolascope.blogspot.com

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