text: name me the best 12 countries in terms of living standards?   according to a survey carried out by the economist in the autumn of 2004, the top ten countries to live in are the followings:   1 ireland 2 switzerland 3 norway 4 luxembourg 5 sweden 6 australia 7 iceland 8 italy 9 denmark 10 spain  the us was in 13th, while britain was 29th.