allaboutwomen

Because even the mythical suggestion that these upstanding people pay with a trade-off of extraordinarily high suicide rates is full of holes, as a check of the World Health Organisation's league table of topping yourself clearly shows. Lithuania is streets ahead in that game.

It seems, according to Legatum's 2010 Prosperity Index that success in this hard-to-pin-down area is largely due to, among other things, the strength of the economy, the health of the people, their feeling of safety and security and the environment that exists to create entrepreneurial opportunities.

Unbelievably, if you look at the UK's performance in that category of fostering entrepreneurship, it seems that Dragon's Den may just be working as we are fifth in this area globally, our strongest performance in any of the areas considered.

The top three
So it's Scandinavia all the way with Norway, Denmark and Finland taking the top three slots respectively and Sweden letting the side down by coming in at sixth. No doubt the news that Abba are talking about reforming for a tour will give the Swedes a lift in the next index.

In fourth and fifth places it's the Aussies and the Kiwis. Not surprising really, with small populations on large islands, well Australia at least. The New Zealanders did rate top for education, but we can take some pride in that as so many young UK teachers have departed these shores for the Land of the Long White Cloud that their efforts are starting to show.

Canada drops in at seventh place, thanks to a number one ranking in personal freedom. Switzerland takes eighth place, the Netherlands is ninth and in tenth place is the US.

And of all the categories studied, it's actually health that the States scores highest in, taking prime spot. Health? Obese America? Gimme a break.

In case you were wondering, Great Britain comes in at number 13. Unlucky for some!

Top 10 wealthiest countries
Norway
Denmark
Finland
Australia
New Zealand
Sweden
Canada
Switzerland
Netherlands
US