America Ranks as 13th Best Place to Live According to United Nations Report

I've been to Norway, Australia, and Iceland and they are all among my favorite nations, but are they really the three best places to live, as is implied by the latest Human Development Report from the United Nations? Here's a brief blurb from the U.K.'s Daily Mail:

The UN list, which saw Norway retain its status as the world’s most desirable place to live, ranks sub-Saharan African states afflicted by war and Aids as the worst. Data collected prior to the global economic crisis showed people in Norway, Australia and Iceland had the best living standards... The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) index was compiled using 2007 data on GDP per capita, education, and life expectancy, and showed marked differences between the developed and developing world. ...Liechtenstein has the highest GDP per capita at $85,383 in a tiny principality home to 35,000 people, 15 banks and more than 100 wealth management companies. People were poorest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where average income per person was $298 per year. Five countries - China, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia and France - climbed three or more places from the previous year, driven by greater earnings and longer life expectancy. China, Colombia and Venezuela also scored better due to improvements in education.

I'm very skeptical of the U.N. report. I strongly suspect migration patterns would show more Norwegians, Australians, and Icelanders emigrating to the United States rather than vice-versa. And the ratio presumably would be even more lopsided if it included unsuccessful residency requests. Isn't that a more accurate measure of the best place to live? In any event, the U.N. report actually does have some interesting pieces of information. It turns out that two tax havens, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, are the two richest nations. This suggests these places are doing something right, but in the upside-down world of international economic policy, low-tax jurisdictions are being pressured by high-tax nations to adopt bad policy (see here for more information).