There hasn’t been much room for good news lately, so you might have missed the stellar month Australia’s had in some key global rankings.
In mid-March, we were placed in the top 10 on the United Nations’ ultimate league table – the Human Development Index, which scores nations according to life expectancy, education and income.
A few days later, Australia was ranked the 10th happiest nation by the UN-sponsored World Happiness Report. Australia has been in or around the top 10 since the ratings began 14 years ago and this year came in ahead of all the English-speaking countries.
Finland was named No.1 for the seventh year in a row, while four of the top five were wealthy Nordic nations. Eight of the world’s 10 happiest countries had fewer than 15 million people, with the Netherlands (18 million) and Australia (27 million) the two exceptions. The United States dropped out of the top 20 for the first time, down eight places to 23rd. Lowest ranked was conflict-ravaged Afghanistan.
The World Happiness Report is based on the Gallup World Poll which asks respondents in over 140 countries to rate their life satisfaction using a scale from 0 to 10 (with 10 the best possible).
It shows life satisfaction in Australia has been relatively resilient in the face of challenges like COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crunch. The other UN league table out last month, the Human Development Index, helps to explain why; Australians enjoy some of the highest incomes, the best education and longest life spans in the world.
Illustration: Simon Letch
Now for the bad news: despite all our advantages, Australia’s average life satisfaction score has declined over the past decade, and the trend started before the pandemic. On the report’s measure, happiness in Australia last peaked in 2013.
The downward trend has been driven by gloomier young people. Between 2010 and 2023 the decline in average life satisfaction scores among Australians aged under-30 was nearly double that of older age groups. While over-60s in Australia were ranked 9th in the world for happiness this year, that fell to 19th for under-30s. Happiness among younger age cohorts also fell markedly in the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand.
The chart that shows how happy you are, just as long as you’re old enough
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16.04.2024
There hasn’t been much room for good news lately, so you might have missed the stellar month Australia’s had in some key global rankings.
In mid-March, we were placed in the top 10 on the United Nations’ ultimate league table – the Human Development Index, which scores nations according to life expectancy, education and income.
A few days later, Australia was ranked the 10th happiest nation by the UN-sponsored World Happiness Report. Australia has been in or around the top 10 since the ratings began 14 years ago and this........
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