Czech Republic among best countries in the world to raise a family, says new ranking

Prague, Czech Republic – The Czech Republic has been ranked among the top 10 best countries in the world to raise a family, a new index has found.

Compiled by travel website Ashley & Lyric and based on various sources of data for 35 OECD countries across the world, the Raising a Family Index 2020 has ranked the lands of Bohemia and Moravia as the 10th best country to start and raise a family, scoring a commendable overall B+ grade in the index, released at the end of July.

The study looks at six different categories for each country, drawing its results and aggregating data from a number of reputable international studies:

• Safety (homicide rate, Global Peace Index, school shootings, etc.)
• Happiness (suicide rate, family income inequality, World Happiness Index, etc.)
• Cost (public expenditure on family benefits, child care costs, purchasing power index, etc.)
• Health (life expectancy, maternal and under-five child mortality rates, etc.)
• Education (enrollment rates, reading, mathematics and science performance rates, etc.)
• Time (paid maternity, paternity, sick and vacation leaves, annual worked hours, etc.)

Scoring particularly high for the safety level it provides (A), the Czech Republic reported its lowest score for happiness (D), recording one of the ranking’s lowest scores in that category. It scored B in all other fields.

Previous studies had already singled out V4 states from Central Europe as part of the safest countries, not only in Europe but in the world.

Other Central European countries didn’t fare quite as well as their Czech neighbours, with Poland and Hungary ranked 20th and 21st respectively, while Slovakia came at the 27th position.

As is pretty customary, Nordic and Scandinavian countries dominate the ranking, with Iceland ranked as the best country in the world to raise a family. It’s followed by Norway, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Denmark and Germany.

At the bottom end of the ranking Mexico is ranked last, followed by the United States, Chile, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.