If you’re thinking of picking up stakes and
settling down in a tropical country, what should
you consider besides the diving?
The newsletter International Living (January,
1998) says you ought to think about the overall
quality of life, which they see as comprised of seven
elements: cost of living, culture and recreation,
economy, freedom, health, infrastructure, and
safety (a variable they see as being as much as three
times as important as other variables).
Here’s how their data ranks the diving countries:
Antigua......................................................... 55
Australia ........................................................71
Bahamas ....................................................... 64
Barbados ...................................................... 61
Belize ............................................................ 59
Caymans ....................................................... 63
Costa Rica .................................................... 61
Dominica ...................................................... 56
Fiji ................................................................ 55
Grenada ....................................................... 56
Honduras ..................................................... 54
Jamaica ......................................................... 54
Jurubtu ......................................................... 63
Maldives ....................................................... 53
Mexico ......................................................... 63
Palau ............................................................. 54
Papua New Guinea........................................ 42
St. Kitts and Nevis ........................................ 55
Seychelles ..................................................... 49
Solomon Islands ........................................... 54
Tonga ........................................................... 55
Tobago ......................................................... 61
Vanuatu ........................................................ 56
Western Samoa ............................................ 56 |
For comparison’s sake, note that the United
States scores the highest rating, a 79. (Does anyone
detect a bias here?) Afghanistan, on the other
hand, logs in at 19. Cayman gets a low score
because of its extremely high cost of living,
although it gets a rating of 100 for “freedom,” a
score that may deserve some reconsideration given
the recent flap about a gay cruise boat.