HELSINKI (Reuters) - The Nordic countries are the world's greenest and, despite the cold winters, Finland is the best country to live in, according to a Reader's Digest study released on Friday.
Finland was followed by Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Austria.
"Finland wins high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters," the study said.
The United States was 23rd on the list of 141 countries, Britain was 25th and China 84th. Nations at the bottom of the table were all African.
Stockholm scored as the best city to live in out of 72 major metropolitan hubs, followed by Oslo, Munich and Paris. Four German cities won a spot in the top 10 list. New York was 15th and London 27th.
The dirtiest cities were in Asia, with Beijing, host of next summer's Olympic, at the bottom because of its air pollution.
The study was conducted by U.S. environmental economist Matthew Kahn, who looked at issues such as quality of drinking water and greenhouse gas emissions as well as factors such as education and income.
A new survey into the world's greenest and most livable countries has concluded that out of 141 countries reviewed, Finland is the greenest.

Some of the top 20, in order, were Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Australia, Uruguay, Denmark, Canada, Japan, Israel, Italy, Slovenia, France, Netherlands, Portugal, New Zealand and Greece. The poorest results went to African countries, which dominated the bottom of the table, with Ethiopia coming in last place.

"Finland wins high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters," commented the study. Other factors taken into account when ranking the countries included quality of education and income level.

Some other results were the United Kingdom at 25th, the United States at 23rd and China at 84.

The study also looked at individual cities. Of the 72 examined, Stockholm came out on top, followed in order by Oslo,  and Paris. A total of four German cities were ranked in the top ten — Munich, Frankfurt,  and  — and French cities Lyon and  joined Paris in the top ten as well. New York came in at 15th and London at 27th. At the bottom end were mainly Asian cities, with Beijing's  problems earning it the lowest spot in the table. Guangzhou and Shanghai were also near the bottom.