Happy Little Vegemites: OECD rates Australia number one for good living in 2013 – for the third year in a row

For the third consecutive year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) has rated Australia top of their Better Life Index. The top three nations include Sweden and Canada.

The OECD says there is no such thing as an absolute number one because all criteria are treated equally and people have their own opinions about what matters most to them.

Each year OECD ranks 34 developed nations (members of OECD) on 11 criteria for “good living.” Each criteria, such health, work-life balance, civic engagement, natural environment, urban air pollution, and education, is given equal weighting. Each criterion is marked out of a maximum of 10 points. When all points are added, Australia comes top of the ranking.

Australia rates first in civic engagement. More than 70% of Australians trust their political institutions and about 93% vote (the highest proportion in the OECD). This is higher than Canada which also has compulsory voting. Not only do Australians trust their political system, but 94% of Australians have someone they could rely on (the OECD average is 90%).

Australia is the second healthiest nation of the 34 developed nations, below New Zealand, with 85% of Australians describing their health as good.  Australians have an average life expectancy of 82 years (a year longer than the English and three years on average longer than Americans).

Australia’s income is mid-range, although still above the OECD average. The country rates fourth in terms of access to housing, and spend 19% of their income on accommodation (which is less than the OECD average of 21% for the 34 nations). The quality of housing rates second in terms of the world’s best, with 2.3 rooms per person (behind Canada which rates first).

In terms of the natural environment, Australia only rates 8^th – behind Sweden, Britain, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Germany, and Finland.

The work-life balance is rated very poorly in Australia – one of the worst of the 34 nations. More than 14% of Australians work more than 50 hours per week (the OECD average is 9%). However, 25% of Australian males work more than 50 hours per way – significantly higher than the average – compared to 6% of Australian women. Denmark has the best work-life balance with only 2% of workers averaging more than 50 hours per week.

Adding and averaging all scores makes Australians first on the good living index with an average of 7.2 points out of 10 (the OECD average is 6.6). Men and women in Australia are almost equal in their happiness score, although people without secondary education are a little less happy than Australians with university degrees. And 84% of Australians have more positive experiences (feelings of rest, pride in accomplishments, enjoyment, etc.) than negative ones (pain, worry, boredom, and sadness for example) in an average day. They are also helpful to strangers, with 66% reporting to have helped a stranger in the month prior to the survey (well above the OECD average of 48%). However, 91% of Australians do not like the quality of their drinking water.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au