1. New Zealand is #1 in Human Freedom.

New Zealand is a small non-European country which apparently leads the way in human freedom according to an international index that ranks 123 countries. The Canadian Fraser Institute has released its report evaluating how each country measures in security and safety, movement, expression and relationship freedoms.

In 2013 New Zealand topped the index as offering the highest level of human freedom worldwide, followed by the Netherlands and Hong Kong.

Australia came in fourth. The US ranked seventh.

The United Kingdom ranked 18th, ahead of France at 33 and Germany, which came in 35th on the list.

The lowest-ranked countries were Zimbabwe, Burma, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Syria.

The intention of this report was to measure the degree to which people were free to enjoy classic civil liberties-freedom of speech, religion, individual economic choice, and association and assembly-in each country surveyed. It also looked at indicators of crime and violence, freedom of movement, legal discrimination against homosexuals, and women's freedoms.

2. New Zealand is #4 amongst the most prosperous countries in the world.

In 2015 New Zealand has come up as #4 in the annual global Prosperity Index, a huge survey, conducted by The Legatum Institute (London), that ranks what it calls the most prosperous countries in the world.

The amount of money a country has is one factor of prosperity, but the Legatum Institute considered more than that in its ranking.

The organisation compared 89 variables to come up with its list. These variables include traditional indicators like per-capita gross domestic product and the number of people in full-time work, but also more interesting figures such as the number of secure internet servers a country has and how well rested people feel on a day-to-day basis.

The variables are then split into eight subindexes: economy, entrepreneurship and opportunity, governance, education, health, safety and security, personal freedom, and social capital.

The index looked at the 142 countries in the world that have the most available data. Here are the results:

#4 is New Zealand — Strong social cohesion and community engagement mean New Zealand has the best level of social capital on earth. It was rated the most prosperous non-European nation.

Ahead of New Zealand are Norway at #1, Switzerland #2, and Denmark at #3. New Zealand has by-passed Sweden #5, Canada #6, Australia #7, Netherlands #8, Finland #9 and Ireland #10. Find out more about all other countries that have been surveyed in the article The 26 happiest, richest, healthiest, and most crime-free countries in the world

New Zealand ranked #4 amongst the happiest, richest, healthiest countries in the world.

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