AUSTRALIA is second best - almost but not quite the greatest place in which to live, according to the latest United Nations human development index. Norway pips us by a flared nostril. Australia scores 0.93 on a scale of 0 to 1, where 1 is the highest score possible. At 0.94, Norway's margin over Australia is close to invisible.

Not so for the poorest scorer in the UN's ranking of 187 nations. The Democratic Republic of the Congo gets a score of 0.29. The UN says the average length of schooling there is 3.5 years. Life expectancy is 49 years.

The human development index is made up of life expectancy, years of schooling and gross national income per capita. Australia scores spectacularly well on life expectancy with 82 years, second only to Japan, which has 83.

The only thing Norway has that we have much less of is income. At $US47,600 per head, Norway leaves Australia's $US34,400 per head in the shade. If it weren't for the income measure, Australia would be ranked the most developed country in the world. The UN gives Australia first place in its measure of ''non-income human development''.

A good many of the nations surveyed by the UN make more per head than Norway, but it finds them poor models of development. The citizens of Qatar earn $US107,700 per head, but stay in school an average of seven years. Even Singapore, where they earn $US52,600 per head, can boast only 10 years at school.