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  • Hey there!

  • Welcome to Life Noggin.

  • Imagine being able to move anywhere on Earth.

  • Where is the best spot to live?

  • Sure, everyone has different preferenceslike being in a cold versus a warm climatebut

  • But most people can agree that they want to live a long, safe, and happy life.

  • And science can help find the best place for that.

  • There are tons of studies about where you humans live the longest.

  • But any measure of life expectancy is just an estimate.

  • We can't actually know how long you'll live until you

  • well, die.

  • And that's a problem.

  • If we only study the lifespans of people who've already diedsay, everyone born in 1890

  • that won't help us figure out today's life expectancy.

  • We now have better medicine, housing, and sanitation than back then.

  • So to figure out life expectency , scientists use probability.

  • They predict how likely it is someone will reach a certain age based on current trends

  • and conditions.

  • The countries with the longest lifespans all have strong economies, good access to healthcare,

  • and generally healthy diets.

  • Monaco takes the top spot. It's citizens live to be an average of over 85 years old.

  • In Japan and Hong Kong, the average is over 83 years.

  • But these numbers could change if a disaster hits or a war breaks out.

  • For somewhere to be the best place, it also has to be safe.

  • Japan is at a high risk for disasters because gets a lot of earthquakes and floods.

  • Even more vulnerable are the islands in Southeast Asia and the central Pacific, which face earthquakes,

  • storms, and increasing sea levels.

  • Many of these countries don't have the resources or infrastructure to deal with disasters.

  • This is important because the same size storm could topple buildings in one place while

  • leaving another without much damage.

  • The safest nations are the ones where natural disasters don't happen often,

  • but if they did, the country could handle them.

  • Topping the list are Saudi Arabia, Malta, and Qatar.

  • As far as human violence goes , there's no the location where you will be totally safe.

  • But some countries come pretty close. Iceland, Denmark and Austria are the most peaceful nation on Earth.

  • Based on the global peace index study,

  • And they are also some of the happiest.

  • It's tough to study happiness because it means different things to different people.

  • So scientists at the United Nations came up with six criteria that apply to every country:

  • wealth, life expectancy, corruption, social support, freedom to make your own decisions,

  • and generosity, or how much people donate.[ They talked to people in 150 countries, and

  • the happiest were in Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland.

  • So which one is the best place to live?

  • Well, there is one country that ranks near the top in just about every study: Iceland.

  • It's not only happy and peaceful, but it makes the top 10 in life expectancy in

  • safety from natural disasters.

  • So Iceland is the best!….

  • Maybe.

  • It's probably more important to go based on where you feel most comfortable.

  • For me, that's the cozy insides of this computer.

  • Where would you move if you could go anywhere?

  • Let me know in the comments below.

  • Have you ever wondered where the best place on Earth is to eat?

  • Well, that might take a while to find out, but in the meantime, check out the new show

  • Food Groups from our friends over at Thrillist, where they explore some of the best places

  • to eat all over the U.S.

Hey there!

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