Australia Worlds Happiest Nation

12 Jun 2013

“Australia performs exceptionally well in measures of wellbeing, as shown by the fact that it ranks among the top countries in a large number of topics in the Better Life Index,” the OECD said on its website.

Whilst consumer sentiment may be low, Australia continues to be ranked the happiest nation in the world amongst developed economies for the third consecutive year.

The Better Life Index is compiled by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which cited continued strength in the overall economy as the reason.

The top five countries were rounded out by Sweden, Canada Norway and finally Switzerland.

Index ranks over 30 countries and bases its ranking on criteria such as income, housing health and safety.

Over 73 per cent of the 23 million people between the ages of 15 to 64 in Australia have a paid job which is well above the average for OECD countries. Life expectancy in Australia is also longer at about 82 years.

The Australian economy has grown for 22 consecutive years largely on the back of Chinese demand for raw materials such as iron ore and coal.

The country managed to weather the financial crisis better than most and was the only developed economy to have avoided falling into recession during 2009.

The strength of the Australian economy has been reflected in its currency value which until recently had been trading near 30 year highs though recently there have been sharp declines.

The government has started to see challenges to economic growth as investment in mining peaks and demand for raw materials subsides resulting in increasing unemployment.

The minority Labour government in response is seeking ways to restructure the economy away from mining industry dependence and emphasize construction and manufacturing instead.

The country is also seeing greater income inequality, according to the OECD with the top 20 per cent of the population earning six times more than the bottom 20.

Source: http://www.money-au.com.au/finance-news/banking/australia-worlds-happiest-nation-9017/