Ask Lemmy

I hear the Netherlands is pretty great, especially when it comes to town planning and transportation.

Norway or Finland probably.

Every country has lots of struggles. There are a few European cities I would consider close to perfect but when leaving said cities things can become more difficult in the same country. Vienna and Copenhagen might be my two favorites. Rent is still fairly affordable in both cities especially given the available salaries. Both have great public transportation, lots of green spaces, good access to education and healthcare, and a healthy entertainment sector. Both countries are doing fairly decent overall. Denmark is probably ahead of Austria because Austria has a bigger right-wing. So by extension I would say Denmark might be as close as it gets.

Obviously there will be a few smaller towns that are even better but they are too small to consider.

When talking about a whole country a lot of it comes down to personal ranking on what you consider important. When leaving central & northern Europe the relative income drops significantly in most other nations. Which would matter for some as it affects the possibility of traveling, while for other it doesn't.
Many of the pacific island nations have a surprisingly high standard of living despite poverty being an issue. But even if you don't care about money and would rank the relaxed living there over the working culture in Europe there is another issue that affects some. Abortion is illegal in most of them, it's usually allowed for medical reasons, especially if the life of the pregnant woman is in danger. But for some the lack of access to abortion would totally dismiss these countries from consideration while others prefer them for it.
Singapore could rank very high but the fact that there is the death penalty for drug related crimes is a huge red flag for many. But again, others even agree with it.

Antarctica.

Er... Well I guess that's a continent, not a country. 🤔 It still has the best government and population, tho. Nothing else comes close.

Japan. My brother lives there, I've visited and spent some time there four times so far, about to head back for a fifth. Most civilised country I've ever been in. Yes, it isnt perfect, and has its issues and defects, but on the whole we in the West could learn a lot from Japan, just as Japan once learnt from us back in the 50's and 60's. Unfortunately the West is too arrogant, and will not swallow its pride and have the humility to admit that someone else has a better way to live, or be willing to learn. Every country in the world can teach us something, we just need to be willing to learn

I don't think any country gets very close. I do hear Denmark here and I suppose that's a good country to live in, but I would just say most of Europe in general is a very good place to live. The european parliament mostly does the right thing, the social insurance and health care is decent all over Europe, the pay is usually sufficient to live comfortably even for lower paid jobs, etc... From Spain to the baltics, from Norway to Cyprus, life is pretty comfortable but nowhere near perfect.

Countries or regions in Europe I personally would avoid to go live: Portugal, Greece, the southern Balkans, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Romania. But almost all other countries in Europe are decent places and even within those countries there are usually good places, just like there are bad places in the "good" countries.

Anywhere with one of those social market economies is looking good right now compared to the rest of us trying to survive in free market capitalism. I know the differences may not seem too obvious on the surface but my country has pretty much outsourced all aspects of governing to the private market. We used to have quite a robust social safety net and now we're just like a mini America and it fucking sucks.