I was quite surprised by an online survey I completed. Well, I was surprised twice.
The first surprise was that I actually completed the thing. I find online surveys overly saturated, monotonous, and I’m very suspicous about a great majority of them providing any real value or insights.
The survey is from yourtopia.net (an Open Knowledge Foundation Project):
The idea: Construct a measure of social progress world-wide based on your preferences for development. Participate in a global effort to improve tracing of humanity’s progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.
In it you are asked to rate the importance you place on various factors of human well-being. It was interesting to contemplate if I place higher importance on things like household consumption over say poverty headcount. And to be honest, some of the items I don’t know in any depth – so had to take an educated-uneducated guess.
The ratings are calculated, and the output is your preferred country – based on your ideals and preferences.
The result for me was surprising. Out of the 186 countries featured, my ratings indicate my preferred country in the world is Australia – my home nation.
Screen shot of my results
Some could assume that Australia has a great standard of living, so it’s a likely result for many. Based on the site’s results though, Australia only features 8th. Norway is the list leader, followed by a couple of other European nations.
It’s nice to know that the pace and progress that Australia achieves with various human factors aligns to my priorities.
Although I left Australia temporarily for employment, fresh experience, and opportunities for my children, we obviously have a deep affection for Australia and will forever live and breath her ideals.