I was born and raised in Mauritius and as an insider, can tell anyone that the reality is far from those rankings.

Law and safety: everyday there is a ridiculous amount of road accidents, violent crime and rapes for such a small country. My dear Mauritius is so safe that after 8 p.m., most people cannot leave their homes, with the exception of clubbers, criminals and drug addicts. I’ve travelled and lived in Europe, South-East Asia and Australia and this situation is unique to Mauritius.

Economic opportunity: If you’re born into the right (i.e. wealthy) families or into the babyboomer generation, plenty of them. If you are in your 20’s, none, and few job opportunities either. The country doesn’t want you, doesn’t give a toss about what you can offer to it and wouldn’t mind if we all stayed abroad after completing our studies.

Human development: GNI figures don’t reflect the fact that most people live on very low wages and that Mauritius has remained a low wage economy. We have soaring rates of diabetes, obesity and all sorts of cancer (especially throat and breast cancer among women as they now smoke and drink as much as the men, who are themselves no models of good health.

Human rights: abortion has only been legalised this year; the rights of workers to strike are severely restricted, among other things.

That is the view of someone who has actually lived and experienced life in the country, and not through reports. Compared to our African counterparts we may look like a model but the reality for most citizens is very different. And such reports do us no favours because they provide legitimacy to the official propaganda that all is fine.