Britain slips down ranks of the best places to live in the world

Progress since the Cold War in forging new democracies around the world has stalled, if not gone into reverse, and the US-led fight against terrorism could encourage the re-emergence of authoritarianism in many states, a United Nations report warns.

The same report, which offers a detailed X-ray of the daily circumstances of the world's citizens, also shows Britain losing its place among the top 10 countries where people would most like to live. Britain was placed 13th, one place behind France but above Germany. Norway was first.

Released yesterday by the UN Development Programme, the annual report concedes that the planet is theoretically more democratic than ever before. It notes that 140 of the almost 200 countries in the world now hold multi-party elections but says of those, only 81 countries have fully democratic institutions with legitimate elections.

Mark Malloch Brown, the head of the UNDP, said: "Some of these gains are under real threat. Lots of nations aren't very good democracies. They have lost the trust of their citizens and very few of them are delivering what citizens want."

Burma and Pakistan are both identified as having returned to military rule while Zimbabwe is described as a "pseudo-democracy" because of restraints placed on freedom by President Robert Mugabe and the flaws in the country's recent elections.

Pakistan is one of several Asian countries due to be visited over the coming days by the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell. With a tour beginning on Friday, he will be urging governments in the region to step up efforts to fight terrorists.

While the report avoids pointing a finger at the US, it clearly argues against allowing any trade-off between human rights and democratic governance on the one hand and combating terrorists on the other. It notes that security is historically more rooted in full democracies. The report's main author, Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, said: "There is a temptation to think in the short term, to think you need a powerful authoritative force to clamp down."

Warning against restricting human rights in response to the 11 September terrorist attacks in America, she said: "History shows that in the long term, when these authorities are not protected by democratic principles, they turn against people. Over the 20th century, 170 million people were killed by their own governments."

Strains on democracy are also evident in Latin America, where economies are stumbling. More should be done, the report adds, to reform international bodies to respond to citizens' needs. The institutions mentioned include the World Trade Organisation and the UN Security Council.

Ms Fukuda-Parr noted: "The anti-globalisation movement is a sign most people think the world is unfair. It's not poor people protesting, it's people outraged at the unfairness. It's the powerful versus the powerless as much as rich versus poor."

Leading the world in the quality-of-life rankings are, in descending order: Norway, Sweden, Canada, Belgium, Australia, the US ­ which has slipped four places since 1990 ­ Iceland, the Netherlands, Japan and Finland. They are followed by Switzerland, France, Britain, Denmark, Austria, Luxembourg, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and Italy.

The annual rankings are not just a wealth index but consider indicators such as life expectancy, per capita income and educational opportunities, as well as human rights considerations.

This year, they show that the worst countries to be living in are all in Africa. The bottom five are Sierra Leone, Niger, Burundi, Mozambique and Burkina Faso. Eastern European countries that have tumbled down the rankings include the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

While per capita income in Britain is lower than in other countries near the top of the list, overall quality of life for its citizens is impressive, particular in terms of health care and education. This is due to success in "translating income into human development," the report says.

Among the gloomiest aspects of the report is the calculation that about 2.8 billion of the world's population of 6 billion are living on $2 (£1.20) a day or less. Moreover, more than 60 countries have lower per capita income than they did in 1990.

New trends identified as worrying for the cause of world democracy include a downturn of voter turnout everywhere, caused in part by the corrupting effect of corporate contributions to parties and candidates. In the US, companies contributed $1.2bn (£750m) to the 2002 election.

The state of the nations

Norway: where the living is easy

Norway is a great place to live ­ it's safe, it's clean and everyone is precious about their spare time, so employers make sure nobody needs to work too hard.

With a population of only 4.5m in a country larger than Britain, we enjoy wide, open spaces and traffic is rarely a problem. The provision of essential services is good; health care is affordable and mainly run by the state sector. The same goes for education; there are hardly any private alternatives. There are good social security provisions and few fall outside the system.

Child care, which is provided by the state, and maternity leave are among the best in Europe. Everyone has the right to eight months' maternity leave with full pay, or a full year with 80 per cent pay. Four weeks must be taken by the father, or the family loses that time altogether.

Some have complaints; taxes are high, as is the cost of food and drink. The government is also accused of interfering too much in everyday life.

Lars Bevanger in Oslo

Politics

* Of the 81 new democracies, only 47 are fully democratic. Many others do not seem to be in transition to democracy or have lapsed back into authoritarianism or conflict

* Only 82 countries, with 57 per cent of the world's people, are fully democratic

* 61 countries, with 38 per cent of the world's population, still do not have a free press

Economy

* The richest 5 per cent of people have incomes 114 times those of the poorest 5 per cent

* During the 1990s the number of people in extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa rose from 242 million to 300 million

Health

* Every day more than 30,000 children around the world die of preventable diseases

* By the end of 2000 almost 22 million people had died from Aids and 13 million children had lost their mother or both parents to the disease.