Several aspects to this. From a personal perspective, the police presence is much less, and much less threatening. Our cop-on-the-beat does not carry a gun, and I think this makes a vast difference in the kind of person attracted to the profession. There's less abject poverty; we have poor people but the number of desperate poor is much less here - and that leads to less crime. We do have a lot of burglaries here, but other minor crimes seem much reduced. Also, a lot fewer handguns in circulation add to the general safety aspect. We have no dangerous animals to speak of as well. We don't have HFCS here at all (unless it's in US imports). We have better health care coverage and leave (full-time employees get 4 weeks minimum by law). Local dairy products, fruits and vegetables are great. Every tiny little place that serves coffee has an espresso machine and makes a great cup - it's hard to find places that serve old-fashioned 'filter coffee' any more. The weather is fantastic. The politicians aren't as corrupt. We have an MMP system for electing representatives that (in my opinion) is superior to yours (first-past-the-post), in that it allows smaller parties to wield real power. Kids here aren't afraid of strangers. I could go on (and I do!)