職業的關係，我每天會花一點時間閱讀跟房地產相關的新聞。今天，在REUTERS(路透社)的官網讀到一個報導，我想跟大家分享。 那是一篇以民主、健康、財富、繁榮的角度所排下來"最適合居住的國家/地方"的排行榜。在朋友們抱怨台灣居、大不一易的同時，你是不是也跟我一樣好奇，在全世界那麼多國家裡台灣排第幾?

我並不打算逐字翻譯這篇報導，因為我相信台灣的媒體，在這幾天就會有翻譯的報導，翻譯的工作就留給那些專業人士即可。我只想以紅字在原報導邊挑重要的句子翻一下。

【以下是原文報導】

Want prosperity? Index ranks Finland as place to be

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) – For those who value their freedom of expression as much as health, wealth, and prosperity, then Finland is the place to be, with an index ranking the Nordic nation the best in the world.

The 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index, published on Tuesday and compiled by the Legatum Institute, an independent policy, advocacy and advisory organization, ranked 104 countries which are home to 90 percent of the world's population.

The index is based on a definition of prosperity that combines economic growth with the level of personal freedoms and democracy in a country as well as measures of happiness and quality of life.

With the exception of Switzerland, which came in at number 2, Nordic countries dominated the top 5 slots, with Sweden in third place followed by Denmark and Norway.除了排行第二名的瑞士之外，名列前矛的都是北歐國家，第一是芬蘭，緊接著是瑞士、瑞典、丹麥及挪威。

The top 10 were all also Western nations, with Australia (6th place) and Canada (7th place) both beating the United States, ranked 9th. Britain came in at number 12. 前十名都由西方國家佔住了，排行第六的澳大利亞及第七的加拿大，都比美國的排行高，而英國排在12位。

In Asia, Japan was the region's highest ranked country at number 16, followed by Hong Kong (18th place) and Singapore (23rd place) and Taiwan (24th place).亞洲，則以日本的16排行最高，再來是位居第十八的香港，第二十三是新加坡，而台灣位居第二十四名。

Dr. William Inboden, senior vice president of the Legatum Institute, said the lower rankings for Asian nations were largely due to their weak scores for democracy and personal freedoms.

"Many Asian nations have good economic fundamentals, but the Index tells us that true prosperity requires more than just money," Inboden said in a statement.

"Democratic institutions and personal freedom measures are letting some Asian nations down. Furthermore, countries which have low levels of economic stability, such as Cambodia, finish even further down in the overall rankings."

Cambodia came in the 93rd slot while China, with its tight political controls, came in 75th despite booming economic growth.

And the world's least prosperous country? According to the Legatum Index, it is Zimbabwe, with Sudan and Yemen close runners-up.

The index combines objective data and subjective responses to surveys. More details can be found on http://www.prosperity.com.

(Writing by Miral Fahmy, editing by Ron Popeski)

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對於台灣排名在總共104個國家/地方排第二十四名,你驚訝嗎?

我特地到做這份排名的機構 Legatum Institute 的官網，去讀它完整的報告，它詳細的解說他們如何採樣，定義它採樣的基礎，如以民主、健康、財富、繁榮、快樂等等指數。

知道了前十幾名，會好奇墊底的後十名嗎?

第95名Kenya 肯亞

第96 Algeria 阿爾及利亞

第97名 Tanzania 坦尚尼亞

第98名 Nigeria 奈及利亞

第99名 Pakistan 巴基斯坦

第100名 Cameroon 喀麥隆

第101名 Central African Rep./ Yemen中非& 葉門

第103名 Sudan 蘇丹

第104名 Zimbabwe 辛巴威