How many of you want to live in the country of your choice? Which country is the best to live in?

A survey from 2007 to 2009 in 135 countries by Gallups revealed that 16% of the worlds adult population would like to leave their home country for a country of their choice. This 16% converts to 700 million people and that is more than adult population of entire North & South America!

The most desired country was found to be US, Canada, UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Australia. Out of these 700 million majority would like to migrate to North america. Among the countries from where people would like to migrate, Africa tops the list along with other developing countries.

Why is this disparity between countries? Why does the grass on the other side seem to be greener always?

In this context we could say that the people from emerging nations aspire to live one day in a country as developed as US or UK. The IT/ITES revolution of this century have increased the awareness about what a developed country is all about. The standard of living, the ease of transportation and the predictability play major roles in setting a benchmark for choice of a country. People believe that sometime in future their country will emerge as a country of their dream. However, the waiting time for such transformation is huge in most of the cases. This urge of shortening the waiting time can be one of the reason for these 700 million to dream of switching the country.

Rogues

shift of power

While the world is struggling to recover from the devastating financial crisis, China seems to be full of events. Japan’s news revolve around the flat interest rates, in U.S. the fiscal deficit is still hot and in rest of the world the news revolve around investments. China’s news agencies on the contrary are busy publishing on the royal celebrations for completion of 60 years, boom in retail markets and China’s contribution to other third world countries. This Fatherly behavior of China makes the developed countries feel like a child. McKinsey & Company, in a recent report has predicted that China’s domestic spending will reach 12 trillion Yuan by 2015!

The integrated commercial and traffic complex for World Expo at Shanghai is being decorated in full swing. It is also planning to spend half a trillion Yuan in developing the country’s western region.

Not to forget that China is also controlling imports of goods like polyamide chips by imposing anti-dumping duties.

To sum up, China is showcasing power of money, weapons and personal relations to signal the world about its growth and maturity (like a father).

Rogues