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Picturesque: Lake Brienz in the Canton of Berne in Switzerland. The country is the best place for a child to be born in 2013 Switzerland is the best place to be born in the world in 2013, and the US is just 16th. A new study produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit says American babies will have a dimmer future than those born in Hong Kong, Ireland and even Canada. The EIU, a sister company of The Economist, attempted to measure how well countries will provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in years to come. People born in Switzerland will tend to be the happiest and have the best quality of life judged in terms of wealth, health and trust in public institutions, according to the analysis. The Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and Denmark also all make the top five in a 'quality-of-life' index highlighting where it is best to be born next year. In 1988, the US came top of a rank of 50 countries, though has not achieved the top spot since. The index links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys - how happy people say they are - to objective determinants of quality of life across countries. One of the most important factors is being rich, but other factors come into play - including crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life. In total, the index takes into account 11 indicators. | 
