Britain may not be the best place to live, but it is the best place to die.

　　英国可能不是最适宜居住的地方，但却是最适合死的地方。

　　The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked the country first in its latest quality-of-death index, which uses 20 quantitative and qualitative indicators to measure the effectiveness of end-of-life care in 80 countries. The measures include the the quality of palliative care, affordability, the health care environment, and community engagement.

　　经济学人智库在其最新的"死亡质量指数"排名上将英国排在第一名，这一指数使用20个定量和定性指标测量世界上80个国家临终看护的效率。测量标的包括姑息治疗、负担能力、医疗环境和社会参与度。

　　How we die is becoming a critical topic as populations live longer, often with multiple diseases requiring complex (and costly) management. Developing countries in particular grapple with how to deliver basic pain relief to the dying.

　　]随着人们的寿命越来越长，我们怎样度过人生最后的阶段越来越成为一个重要的话题，各种疾病经常需要很复杂(也很昂贵)的护理。尤其，发展中国家经常要为怎样缓解死亡的痛苦而烦恼。

　　Not surprisingly, rich countries generally did better than poor ones in the rankings. But there are noteworthy variations: the U.S. came in ninth place with a score of 80.8 (out of 100), far below the 93.9 score achieved by Britain, where complaining about health care is as popular as grumbling about the weather.

　　意料之中，大体上富裕的国家要比贫穷落后的国家排名更靠前。但是有些变化值得注意：美国以80.8分排名第九(100分制)，远低于英国的93.9分，而在英国，人们对健康医疗的抱怨跟对糟糕天气的抱怨一样多。

　　图：高收入国家死亡质量指数

　　Costa Rica ranks top among middle-income countries, thanks in part to extensive volunteer networks that support public services, according to the EIU.

　　经济学人智库数据显示，哥斯达黎加在中等收入国家中排名第一，部分原因归结为其集中的志愿者网络为其提供公共服务。

　　表：中等收入国家死亡质量指数

　　[en]The most striking finding in the report is that Mongolia, a poor country with few provisions for end-of-life care in 2000, now leads the low-income countries with a score of 57.7, which puts it 28th overall, above a host of more advanced economies.[/en]

　　数据中令人最意想不到的发现是蒙古，它在2000年时还是个贫穷落后的国家，临终看护服务少之又少，现在却得分57.7分，在低收入国家中排第一，总体排名第28位，超过很多非常先进的国家。

　　表：低收入国家死亡质量指数

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（编辑：何莹莹）