- The Organisation for Economic and Cultural Development (OECD) has created an index which aims to measure the well-being of citizens in its 38 member countries
- The Better Life Index has 11 variables which it considers essential to the well-being
- Countries are rated on each variable and then comparisons can be made
The Eleven Variables of the OECD Better Life Index
Variable
|
Explanation
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Housing
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- This considers living conditions and the proportion of household expenditure spent on housing
|
Income
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- This considers the net income and net wealth of households
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Jobs
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- This considers job security, the average earnings of the country and the unemployment rate
|
Community
|
- This considers the social support networks that exist in the economy
|
Education
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- This considers the quality of the education with a focus on educational attainment and skills
|
Environment
|
- This considers the environmental health with a focus on air pollution and water quality
|
Civic Engagement
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- This considers voter turnout and community involvement in creating legislation (laws)
|
Health
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- This considers the quality of health with a focus on life expectancy and data from self reported health surveys
|
Life satisfaction
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- This considers the overall satisfaction that people have with their lives
|
Safety
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- This considers how safe people feel walking alone at night, together with the murder rate in the country
|
Work-life balance
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- This considers the percentage of employees who work long hours, together with the amount of time given to leisure and personal care
|