What countries in Europe right now are actually experiencing economic growth? Which ones have the best standard of living for the general population? With all the austerity moves & threats of default, which ones seem to be least risky?
The three questions in your OP all have rather different answers, and none of them is exactly equivalent to the question in your thread title. The idea of what makes an economy “best” is pretty subjective, and isn’t entirely determined by levels of economic growth, standard of living (itself a very subjective concept), or economic risk.
For “standard of living” computed “based on 11 measurements of quality of life including housing, income, jobs, community, education, the environment, health, work-life balance, and life satisfaction”, this June 2011 article gives the following Top Ten worldwide:
- Denmark
- Canada
- Norway
- Australia
- Netherlands
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Finland
- Israel
- Austria
As for economic growth per se, this table gives GDP growth rates as recent as 2010 both for EU15 states and new EU states.
Thank you! That’s pretty much what I wanted!
Great!! You’re very welcome. 