Levels of life satisfaction have not recovered to pre-economic crisis rates in more than half of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries – the world’s most advanced economies.
The lowest average score of 4.8 for personal wellbeing is registered in Greece . It is the only country among the OECD’s 34 not to have seen an increase in GDP per capita between 2007 and 2014. Trust in the government plummeted to 13% in 2012 from 38% five years ago. According to a release by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the country was also lowest for feelings of safety and the proportion of people who feel optimistic about the future.
Iceland, Switzerland and Denmark have the highest life satisfaction, scoring 7.5 out of 10. The average rating of life satisfaction comes via data from the OECD conducted by Gallup World Poll and gives an average (mean) score on a scale from zero to 10 (the higher the number, the higher the life satisfaction).
In 2014, the average rating of life satisfaction of adults aged 16 and over in the UK was 6.8 out of 10 – slightly higher than the OECD average of 6.6.
