After looking up some statistics it appears that former British colonies ( Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Singapore,...) seem to be better of than colonies of let's say France (Morocco, Algeria,...), Germany (Cameroon, Togo,...), the Netherlands (Indonesia, New Guinea) and Belgium (Zaire/Congo). Of course compared to colonies in the neighborhood.
Is there some consensus on this topic? What are significant differences in how the British governed their colonies compared to other countries? What made this approach more successful?
This question is not about the life conditions of the native people in these colonies, which was in many cases dramatic.
A bold rephrase of the question would could thus be: based on historical evidence, what conditions should one look for (to pick a good place) and how should one manage that colony to be successful. as a thought experiment. Please don't take this question as a provocation, it's more scientific research in what caused colonies to succeed or fail.