Quick Facts from the OECD Better Life Index
- Ranks above the average in education and skills, work-life balance, jobs and earnings, income and wealth, environmental
quality, social connections, health status, civic engagement, housing, personal security and subjective well-being.
- Average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita is USD $38, 971/year, higher than the OECD average of USD $30, 490/year. But there is a considerable gap between the richest and poorest – the top 20% of the population earn nearly five times as much as the bottom 20%.
- About 77% of people aged 15 to 64 in Germany have a paid job, above the OECD employment average of 66%. Some 80% of men are in paid work, compared with 72% of women. In Germany, more than 4% of employees work very long hours, considerably less than the OECD average of 10%, with 6% of men working very long hours compared with just 2% of women.
- 86% of adults aged 25-64 have completed upper secondary education, more than the OECD average of 79%. This is truer of men than women, as 87% of men have successfully completed high-school compared with 86% of women. In terms of
the quality of its educational system, the average student score is 500 in reading literacy, math and science in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This score is higher than the OECD average of 488. On average in Germany, girls outperformed boys by 7 points, above the OECD average gap of 5 points.
- Life expectancy at birth in Germany is 81 years, the same as the OECD average. Life expectancy for women is 84 years, compared with 79 for men.
- Level of atmospheric PM2.5 – tiny air pollutant particles small enough to enter and cause damage to the lungs – is 12 micrograms per cubic meter, lower than the OECD average of 14 micrograms per cubic meter.
- Water quality: 91% of people say they are satisfied with the quality of their water, more than the OECD average of 84%.
- Strong sense of community and moderate levels of civic participation in Germany, where 90% of people believe that they know someone they could rely on in time of need, slightly less than the OECD average of 91%.
- Voter turnout, a measure of citizens’ participation in the political process, was 76% during recent elections, higher than the OECD average of 69%. Social and economic status can affect voting rates; voter turnout for the top 20% of the population is an estimated 81% and for the bottom 20% it is an estimated 64%, much broader than the OECD average gap of 13 percentage points, and points to shortcomings in the political mobilization of the worst-off.
- General satisfaction with life on a scale from 0 to 10: 7.3 grade on average, higher than the OECD average of 6.7.