Countries with strong social democratic movements like Germany, Austria and some of the Scandinavian countries are able to provide a very decent quality of life with high education levels. However, they also have other variables like smaller population size (which makes it easier to reach a political consensus) and more ethnic homogeneity.
A smaller population size doesn't make it easier to reach a political consensus. I am from Belgium and we hold a world record in that category: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/... 589 days at the time, I don't know if another country has done better since then.
