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The 15 Countries With The Highest Quality Of Life
The 15 Countries With The Highest Quality Of Life
For a good chance at a happy life, head to Australia, which one again topped the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development‘s Better Life Index, which looks at the quality of life in member countries.
The (OECD) — an international economic organization — analyzed 34 countries in 11 categories, including income, housing, jobs, community, education, environment, civic engagement, health, life satisfaction, safety, and work-life balance. (You can read the full methodology here.)
We looked at the countries with the highest overall scores, and highlighted a few of the criteria on the following slides.
#15 Ireland
Average household disposable income: $24,104
The Irish have a strong sense of community — 96% of people believe they know someone they could rely on in a time of need (higher than the OECD average of 90%).
They also rate highly in work-life balance, where the average employee works 1,543 hours a year, less than the OECD average of 1,776.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#14 Luxembourg
Average household disposable income: $23,047
Luxembourg rates well in both health and environment, with an average life expectancy of 81 years and a low level of atmospheric PM10 — tiny air pollutant particles small enough to enter and cause damage to the lungs.
Citizens also have a high participation rate in the political process, with 91% of the population turning out for recent elections.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#13 Austria
Average household disposable income: $28,852
Austria has a high rate for education. 82% of Austrian adults ages 25-64 have earned the equivalent of a high school degree.
Austrians also have a strong sense of community, with 94% of the population reporting they know someone they could rely on in a time of need.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#12 Finland
Average household disposable income: $25,739
Finland performed extremely well on the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment — the average student scored 543 in reading literacy, math, and science, whereas the average OECD score was 497.
They also have a high level of life satisfaction with 82% of the population saying they have more positive experiences than negative ones in an average day.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#11 New Zealand
Average household disposable income: $21,892
New Zealand has one of the best rates of renewable energy of any OECD country with 36.47%.
Students also scored 524 in reading literacy, math, and science on the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment — higher than the average of 497.
And New Zealand girls outperformed boys by 15 points, higher than the average OECD gap of 9 points.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#10 United Kingdom
AP/RICHARD LEWIS
Average household disposable income: $23,047
85% of the English population say they have more positive experiences in an average day than negative ones.
They also have a high life expectancy of 81 years, and 97% of the people say they are satisfied with the quality of their water.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#9 Iceland
Average household disposable income: $23,047
Iceland has high levels of civic participation — 98% of people believe they know someone they could rely on in a time of need.
97% of the Iceland population are also extremely satisfied with their water quality, and Iceland has less air pollutant particles per cubic meter than the OECD average.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#8 Netherlands
Average household disposable income: $25,493
People in the Netherlands only work 1,379 hours a year, significantly less than the OECD average of 1,776 hours.
They also test extremely high on the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment with an average of 519 (the OECD average is 497).
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#7 Denmark
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Average household disposable income: $24,682
Denmark has one of the highest life satisfaction rankings, with 89% of the population reporting they have more positive experiences in an average day than negative ones.
The Danish also know how to balance their work life with their personal life — only 2% of employees say they work very long hours, much lower than the OECD average of 9%.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#6 United States
Assouline
Average household disposable income: $38,001
The U.S. has the highest average household disposable income on the list at $38,000 a year — much higher than the OECD average of $23,000.
It also ranks as one of the best countries for housing conditions, with good basic facilities and general feelings of safety and personal space.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#5 Switzerland
Average household disposable income: $30,060
86% of adults in Switzerland have earned the equivalent of a high school degree, and students scored 517 on the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment — higher than the average of 497.
The Swiss also have a high life expectancy at 83 years of age, and 95% of the population say they are satisfied with the quality of their water.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#4 Norway
Average household disposable income: $31,459
There is a strong sense of community and high levels of safety in Norway, where 93% of people believe that they know someone they could rely on in a time of need.
Norwegians also tend to have a good work-life balance, with only 3% of employees working very long hours, compared to the OECD average of 9%.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#3 Canada
Average household disposable income: $28,194
Canadians work only 1,702 hours a year — less than the OECD average — with 72% of the population working at a paid job.
There is little difference in voting levels across society too, suggesting there is broad inclusion in Canada’s democratic institutions: Voter turnout for the top 20% of the population is 63% and for the bottom 20% it is 60%, a much smaller difference than the OECD average gap of 12 percentage points.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#2 Sweden
Average household disposable income: $26,242
Having a good education is extremely important in Sweden, where 87% of adults aged 25-64 have earned the equivalent of a high school degree.
They also ranked highly in all environmental categories. Their level of air pollutant particles is 10 micrograms per cubic meter — considerably lower than the OECD average of 21 micrograms per cubic meter — and 95% of the population is satisfied with their water quality.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
#1 Australia
Average household disposable income: $28,884
For the second year in a row, Australia is the number one happiest country in the world. And it’s not hard to see why —they rank extremely well in health, civic engagement, and housing.
The life expectancy at birth in Australia is 82 years, two years higher than the OECD average.
Australia also has exceptional voter turnout at 93% during recent elections, which is far above the OECD average of 72%.
Researchers compared data from 34 countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They based the rankings on 11 factors including income, safety, life satisfaction, and health, and then rated each country on a 10-point scale. Income is net-adjusted and in USD.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/top-countries-on-oecd-better-life-index-2013-5?op=1#ixzz2VDnSmmPo
Which country has the best quality of life?
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Ireland lies in twelfth place, USA in sixteenth place and the UK in twenty seventh place.
The Economist Intelligence Unit looked at GDP, life expectancy, political freedom, job security, climate and gender equality to compile a list of 80 countries ranked by their general quality of life. It also considered economic forecasts for 2030, the year that a baby born now would reach adulthood.
The full list is as follows
A blood test to reveal how long you have to live
A simple blood test could help predict how long
you are going to live, new research suggests.
Researchers have successfully measured the speed of ageing in wild birds, opening up the possibility of doing the same for humans.
The test allows you to look at the “biological age” of individuals and also accurately predict, major illness aside, their lifespan.
The test measures the average length of tiny structures called telomeres, which are known to get shorter each time a cell divides during an organism’s lifetime.
The length of telomeres provide a more accurate estimate of a person’s true biological age rather than their actual chronological age.
This has led some experts to suggest that telomere tests could be used to estimate how long they have left to live, assuming they die of natural causes.
At least one company is offering a £400 blood test in the UK for people interested in seeing how fast they are ageing based on their average telomere length.
Telomere tests have been widely used on animals in experiments, now scientists have performed them on an isolated population of songbirds in the Seychelles, the Independent has reported.
“We saw that telomere length is a better indicator of life expectancy than chronological age,” said David Richardson, of the University of East Anglia.
“So by measuring telomere length we have a way of estimating the biological age of an individual – how much of its life it has used up,”
The researchers tested the average telomere lengths of a population of 320 Seychelles warblers on Cousin Island, which ornithologists have studied for 20 years.
“Our results provide the first clear and unambiguous evidence of a relationship between telomere length and mortality in the wild, and substantiate the prediction that telomere length and shortening rate can act as an indicator of biological age further to chronological age,” says the study, published in the journal Molecular Ecology.
Dr Richardson said: “We investigated whether, at any given age, their telomere lengths could predict imminent death.
“We found that short and rapidly shortening telomeres were a good indication that the bird would die within a year.
“We also found that individuals with longer telomeres had longer lifespans overall.
“However while telomeres do shorten with chronological age, the rate at which this happens differs between individuals of the same age.
“This is because individuals experience different amounts of biological stress due to the challenges and exertions they face in life. Telomere length can be used as a measure of the amount of damage an individual has accumulated over its life.”
Telomeres are often said to be to chromosomes what plastic tips are to shoelaces.
As we age they get shorter and more ragged and lead to damage to the chromosome and DNA.
via A blood test to reveal how long you have to live – Health News, Health – Independent.ie.
via A blood test to reveal how long you have to live – Health News, Health – Independent.ie.
Exercise Lengthens Life Regardless of Weight –
A little exercise each week can lead to big gains in life expectancy. And that’s true regardless of your current weight, according to a new review study that included more than 650,000 people.
The World Health Organization recommends two-and-a-half to five hours of brisk walking per week, or less time spent at a more vigorous activity. People who got the full recommended amount of exercise saw an average 3.4 year gain in life expectancy. People who got half as much exercise still lived an average 1.8 years longer. The findings are in the journal PLoS Medicine. [Steven C. Moore et al, Leisure Time Physical Activity of Moderate to Vigorous Intensity and Mortality: A large pooled cohort analysis]
In fact, exercise was a bigger factor than body weight in many cases. People who were normal weight but were inactive actually lived an average of 3.1 fewer years than obese people who kept up high levels of activity.
Finding time to exercise can be tough. Maybe look at it this way. There are almost 9,000 hours in a year. Five hours a week is 260 hours a year—to get an extra 30,000 hours of life. Do the math. While you take a walk.
via Exercise Lengthens Life Regardless of Weight – Yahoo! News.
via Exercise Lengthens Life Regardless of Weight – Yahoo! News.
