Better Life Index
The OECD Better Life Index, in May 2011 by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development following a decade of work on this issue, is a first attempt to bring together internationally comparable measures of well-being in line with the recommendations of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress also known as the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission. The recommendations made by this Commission sought to address concerns that standard macroeconomic statistics like GDP failed to give a true account of people’s current and future well-being.
There are 11 areas that comprise the BLI rating factors: Housing, Income, Jobs, Community, Education, Environment, Civic Engagement, Health, Life satisfaction, safety & work-Life Balance
The specific elements within the above areas are: Dwellings without basic facilities, Housing Expenditures, Persons per room, Household net adjusted disposable income, Household net worth, Labor market insecurity, Employment rate, Long-term unemployment rate, Personal earnings, quality of support network, Educational attainment, Student skills, Years in education, Air pollution, Water quality, Stakeholder engagement for developing regulations, Voter turnout, Life expectancy, Self-reported health, Life satisfaction, Feeling safe walking alone at night, Homicide rate, Employees working very long hours & time devoted to leisure and personal care.
The USA still ranks in the top 10 (we are 10th) on the better life index. At one time I suspect we were at the top or very near the top. We have been slowly slipping, primarily replaced by EU countries. The top 20 can be seen below.
1 | Norway |
2 | Australia |
3 | Iceland |
4 | Canada |
5 | Denmark |
6 | Switzerland |
7 | Netherlands |
8 | Sweden |
9 | Finland |
10 | United States |
11 | Luxembourg |
12 | New Zealand |
13 | Belgium |
14 | United Kingdom |
15 | Germany |
16 | Ireland |
17 | Austria |
18 | France |
19 | Spain |
20 | Slovenia |
Another view of the Success of countries is the Quality of Life Index. It is a bit more basic, but still considers many important factors and demonstrates the high ratings of many of the EU countries as can be seen below:
Rank | Country | Quality of Life Index | Purchasing Power Index | Safety Index | Health Care Index | Cost of Living Index | Property Price to Income Ratio | Traffic Commute Time Index | Pollution Index | Climate Index |
1 | Denmark | 198.6 | 114.4 | 75.8 | 79.4 | 81.4 | 6.9 | 28.5 | 22.1 | 81.8 |
2 | Switzerland | 195.9 | 129.7 | 78.5 | 72.7 | 121.2 | 9.6 | 29.1 | 22.0 | 80.1 |
3 | Finland | 194.0 | 112.3 | 77.2 | 73.5 | 72.8 | 8.0 | 30.4 | 11.9 | 58.6 |
4 | Australia | 191.1 | 122.9 | 57.2 | 76.4 | 72.1 | 7.6 | 35.3 | 24.0 | 93.8 |
5 | Austria | 191.1 | 96.7 | 78.6 | 79.2 | 71.8 | 10.1 | 25.2 | 22.0 | 77.7 |
6 | Netherlands | 188.9 | 102.5 | 71.4 | 77.8 | 74.8 | 7.4 | 29.9 | 27.5 | 87.5 |
7 | Iceland | 187.8 | 91.8 | 76.7 | 66.4 | 101.9 | 6.6 | 19.7 | 15.2 | 68.8 |
8 | Germany | 187.1 | 116.2 | 65.5 | 74.3 | 67.6 | 9.0 | 29.9 | 28.0 | 82.5 |
9 | New Zealand | 185.6 | 101.1 | 60.5 | 73.6 | 72.6 | 8.3 | 31.2 | 22.7 | 95.5 |
10 | Norway | 181.9 | 103.6 | 64.7 | 74.1 | 101.0 | 8.4 | 27.1 | 19.9 | 71.2 |
11 | Estonia | 180.9 | 76.0 | 79.2 | 72.1 | 51.0 | 9.3 | 25.8 | 18.2 | 64.3 |
12 | Japan | 180.5 | 103.1 | 86.3 | 80.4 | 83.3 | 11.3 | 40.0 | 37.1 | 84.8 |
13 | United States | 179.2 | 122.0 | 52.9 | 69.4 | 69.9 | 3.6 | 32.9 | 34.0 | 77.5 |
14 | Sweden | 178.7 | 111.4 | 50.7 | 71.0 | 71.6 | 10.3 | 30.3 | 18.0 | 74.9 |
15 | Slovenia | 176.0 | 75.4 | 77.4 | 62.8 | 52.5 | 10.2 | 24.8 | 24.3 | 78.1 |
16 | Spain | 174.2 | 83.8 | 67.5 | 77.8 | 54.7 | 9.2 | 29.4 | 39.4 | 94.2 |
17 | United Kingdom | 170.8 | 105.7 | 57.3 | 74.7 | 65.3 | 9.2 | 34.6 | 39.4 | 87.8 |
18 | Canada | 170.3 | 109.4 | 60.5 | 71.0 | 65.0 | 7.7 | 33.8 | 27.9 | 52.6 |
19 | Qatar | 167.8 | 138.3 | 86.7 | 72.4 | 59.1 | 5.7 | 31.7 | 66.5 | 36.0 |
20 | United Arab Emirates | 167.8 | 119.6 | 83.7 | 68.0 | 56.2 | 4.4 | 37.5 | 53.1 | 45.2 |