Icelanders enjoy higher quality of life than most

The latest report from the OECD Better Life Index report flatters Iceland for quality of life, with the country scoring well in many categories. Significantly, it ranked among the top 10 (only just) for the rather subjective notion of ‘Happiness’.

Eighty-seven per cent of Icelanders surveyed for the report feel very positive about life, on a number of criteria, putting them in a league that includes; Australia, the United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland and almost all its Scandinavian neighbours.

While the average person in Iceland earns less than the OECD average of US$23,047 a year, they work less hours than average and were well above the average for a ‘general feeling happiness’.

Another contrast was the exceptionally high employment rate in Iceland, well above the average of 66 per cent in full paid employment, despite the fact that the number of Icelanders who have not graduated from high school is far lower than the average among this group of 34 countries considered developed.

The nations literacy was slightly above average, life expectancy was slightly higher, and voter turnout was among the highest. It also boasted some of the cleanest air in the world.