Australia Is The ‘Happiest’ Nation On The Planet


Australia has been ranked as the world’s happiest nation for the third year running.

The country beat the likes of Sweden, Canada, Norway, and Switzerland to the honor, which was restricted to nations with developed economies.

The list was compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and Australia finished top because of the strength of their economy.

Other factors that were considered were the income levels, health, safety, and housing of the 30 countries that were ranked.

The OECD remarked on its website, “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 topic in the Better Life Index.”

The site went on to state that over 73 percent of Australia’s 23 million people, aged 15 to 64, have a paid job, whilst the life expectancy is also a lot higher, at 82 years.

The report added, “Access to clean water is fundamental to human well-being and 91 percent of Australians say they are satisfied with water quality, higher than the OECD average of 84 percent.”

Australia’s happiness could be down to the fact that they only work 1,693 hours a year, which is about two weeks less than the OECD average of 1,776 hours. Americans work just over this amount at 1,787 hours a year, whilst Germans only manager a paltry, 1,413 hours a year.

Australians also like to splurge on food and booze, as 24.6 percent of its inhabitants are obese, which is higher than the OECD average of 17.8 percent. This is contrast to 85 percent of Australians who told the report that they were in “good health,” though.

The report added, “Obesity rates are high in Australia and they have been increasing faster than in most other OECD countries over the past 20 years.”

Do you think that Australians are the happiest people in the world?

[Image via FlashStudio/Shutterstock]

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