There’s no recession around here… or so you might think looking at a recent international survey taken by the OECD.
You might be a tad surprised to hear that Ireland is currently the fifteenth happiest place on the planet right now, but according to a landmark international study taken by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), we are.
There are no prizes for guessing where the happiest place on earth is at the moment (obviously it’s Disneyland). According to the survey, Australia is actually the no.1 place to be if you’re looking for a smile – but that’s probably because it’s filled with Irish people whose pockets are currently flush.
Coming in second after Australia was Norway followed by the USA, Sweden, Denmark and Canada. So it looks like you have to go as far north or far south to find true happiness.
The survey wasn’t all about the happiest place on earth though. It’s a part of the OECD’s Better Life Index, which takes a look at how countries are getting on in the world.
According to the survey some 64% of men are in paid work here in Ireland, compared with only 56% of women. People in Ireland work 1,664 hours a year, which is less than most people in the OECD who work 1,749 hours on average. So just remember that the next time you complain about long hours.
Almost 4% of employees work very long hours, much lower than the OECD average of 9%, with 6% of men working very long hours compared with just 1% for women – the slackers.
There’s loads more interesting stuff being said about Ireland in the survey so click here for a gander at the index.
