Norway, Sweden, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands ranked as the best five countries to live in but Africaýs quality of life plummeted because of AIDS, said a U.N. report released on Thursday. The United States was ranked in eighth place, a drop of one position from 2003 in the report that rates not only per-capita income but also educational levels, health care and life expectancy in measuring a nationýs well-being. . The Human Development Index, prepared by the U.N. Development Program, is issued annually and includes every country for which statistics are available. . Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Liberia were among nations not included because of lack of data. . Norway has led the list for the past four years. . Aside from the overall index, the report produces indicators on womenýs equality, income inequality and consumption, poverty and other categories that countries use to measure development. In Canada, for example, the index has been used in advertisements to attract business. .