The UK and Australia: A Lifestyle Comparison
10,685 beaches, 365 days of crystal blue sky (OK, near enough anyway!), and enough surfing spots to keep you going for a lifetime, Australia seems to offer the life that some of us can only dream of. But is it all sunshine and beaches or is there a darker side to the Australian lifestyle? In this section we take a close look at Australian life, analysing a range of data covering life satisfaction, self-reported health and even voter turnout.
Self-Reported Health
If there’s one thing that will be important to you no matter where in the world you decide to live it will no doubt be your health. Without your health the dreams of beaches, sun and surfing turn to nothing. So how do Australians and the UK feel about their health? Well, while you can find out more in our Healthcare section, a survey on Self-Reported health found that a massive 11% more Australians report being in “good” or better health than citizens of the UK.
Life Satisfaction
Moving onto the data below on life satisfaction, it is becoming increasingly clear that Australians feel far happier about their lifestyle than the British. In this survey, citizens from both the UK and Australia were asked to give an evaluation of their lives. Citizens from the UK gave an average evaluation of .5 lower than that of Australia.
Work-Life Balance
In an interesting turn of events, in the data set below you can uncover that on average the UK dedicates more time to leisure and personal care than Australian citizens.
Voter Turnout
One interesting statistic that we came across when researching this guide was how high Australian voter turnout is compared to the UK. Due to the possibility of fines being imposed for failing to vote, Australia sees a massive 93% turnout. Does a more accountable government lead to a happier population?
World Happiness Report
The World Happiness Report is a UN measure of the general happiness of a population. Passed by the UN General Assembly in 2012 the World Happiness Report invites members of the UN to provide extensive research into the economic, psychological and general health of its people. Privilege to accurate data regarding GDP, Social Support, Generosity and Corruption the UN measure a number of variables and score each country a populated-weighted average score. In the report the United Kingdom only managed to score a 6.725. In the same report Australia managed to score a 7.313 taking them up 9th place. The worrying aspect for citizens of the UK is that there has been a consistent downward trend; dropping 0.161year on year since the report was commissioned.
Who Wins – Australia!
While we are still quite surprised that Britons seem to report a better work – life balance compared to their Australian counterparts, there is clearly only one winner in this section. Reporting that they are in far better health, more satisfied with their life, and making the top 10 in the World Happiness report Australians are clearly happier with their lifestyle down under. With that in mind, are Australians working so hard to keep up with the bills?