according to a survey by an American magazine.

In its 16th quality of life index, Baltimore-based International Living magazine awarded top spot to the US, followed closely by Canada and Bermuda; Liechtenstein held down fourth place.

The survey rated each jurisdiction according to health services, recreation and cultural facilities, environment, infrastructure, economy, political and social freedom, and cost of living.

Bermuda, the magazine writes, "is a tranquil mid-Atlantic, English speaking Island with excellent facilities for health, recreation, education, and finance''.

"It offers a dash of history and touch of the exotic -- without being too far from our stateside norms. The big negative about Bermuda is that it is very expensive.'' With a paid circulation of about 100,000 readers, International Living targets a middle-aged, upper income market; people looking to invest abroad, vacation or retire with a high quality of life, the magazine's Steve Johnq told The Royal Gazette .

The survey, which attempts to quantify subjective variables such as political/social freedoms and culture, bases its assessments on the 1996 World Almanac, the World Survey of Economic Freedom, the Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties, and the Book of Vital World Statistics, among others.

Bermuda tops the world in the economic category, with the magazine extolling the Island's "booming tourism sector'' and two percent unemployment rate.

The Island also won rave reviews in the area of culture, drawing higher marks than Britain, France, Canada and the US for its museums, newspaper readership, and educational system.

In measuring environmental factors the survey assessed each jurisdiction's percentage of protected land, population density, re-/de-forestation and carbon dioxide emissions.

Despite the fact that Bermuda is one of the most densely populated jurisdictions in the world and one of the smallest in terms of land area, it beat out industrial heavyweights Canada (the least densely populated) and the US, which boast some of the world's strongest pollution legislation.

The survey, admits Mr. Johnq, is not an exact measure; it does not take into account vast differences in population, industrial output, or landmass.

SURVEY SUR