The best place to live in France is

THE MIDI-PYRENEES is the best place to live in France, according to the fourth annual “Better Life Index”, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The region scored 7.82 out of 10 across a range of 11 “well-being criteria”, including employment, health, the environment, education, civic engagement, access to services, and public safety.

The score puts the Midi-Pyrenees on a par with southern Sweden, Umbria in Italy and Madrid.

The full list of French regions is as follows:

1 Midi-Pyrenees (7.82/10)
2 Limousin (7.77/10)
3 Pays de la Loire (7.71/10)
4 Bretagne (7.70/10)
5 Poitou-Charentes (7.56/10)
6 Île-de-France (7.55/10)
7 Aquitaine (7.54/10)
8 Rhône-Alpes (7.47/10)
9 Auvergne (7.46/10)
10 Basse Normandie (7.42/10)
11 Centre (7.30/10)
12 Bourgogne (7.22/10)
13 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (7.10/10)
14 Franche-Comté (7.05/10)
15 Alsace (6.99/10)
16 Languedoc-Roussillon (6.91/10)
17 Lorraine (6.85/10)
18 Haute Normandie (6.84/10)
19 Champagne-Ardenne (6.68/10)
20 Picardie (6.49/10)
21 Nord-Pas-de-Calais (6.01/10)
22 Corsica (5.66/10)

Despite scoring well in a number of criteria, including environment and access to services, Corsica’s average nosedived thanks to a rating of zero for public safety.

With 7.3 murders per 100,000 people, it is among the bottom 10% of regions studied for security. The zero score puts it alongside South Carolina, New Mexico and Mississippi, which have comparable murder rates - and in the same no-score bracket as much more deadly Mexican border regions such as Coahuila (27.3), Nuevo Leon (33.4) and Chihuahua (108.2).

The OECD ranked the 22 regions in France - as part of the study which examines lifestyles in 362 regions across 34 member states.

This year, more than 60,000 people took part in the study.

In terms of countries, Australia had the highest average score, followed by Nordic countries Norway, Sweden and Denmark, with Canada fifth.

USA was ranked seventh, New Zealand 10th, Britain 12th and Ireland 16th. France trailed in 18th.

The results of the OECD study can be found here.

Photo: Patrick Nouhailler