United Nations has developed a method to measure the Quality of Life, in a country or region, resulting in an index that can reach 1.0 at best. This index is called Human Development Index, HDI.

Table 1: Brazil	HDI
Florianopolis, municipality in Santa Catarina	0.88
Balneario Camboriu, municipality in Santa Catarina	0.87
Santa Catarina, state in Brazil (ranking no. 2 of 27), see 1) below	0.82
Sao Paulo, state in Brazil (ranking no. 3 of 27)	0.82
Brazil	0.77
Natal,municipality in Rio Grande de Norte	0.76
Rio Grande de Norte, state in Brazil (ranking no. 19 av 27)	0.70
Source: United Nation Development Program, 2000 1) Number 1 is the Federal District Brasilia which actually is a city.

 

Table 2: The World	HDI
Sweden, Norway	0.95
USA, Canada, Denmark	0.94
Spain, Italy	0.92
Portugal, Greece	0.90
Florianopolis / Balneario Camboriu *)	0.87-0.88
Malta, Cyprus, Check Republic, South Korea, Argentina	0.86-0.88
Santa Catarina, state in Brazil *)	0.82
Brazil	0.78
Thailand	0.77
Turkey, Dominican Republic	0.73
Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2001 *) United Nation Development Program, 2000