OK firstly I know these are not 'perfect' measures of living standards and they don't reflect distributional issues however with those disclaimers in mind the following figures are interesting: epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ ... -BP-EN.PDF

They are showing GDP per person (adjusted for purchasing power parity, ie taking into account the fact prices are lower in some countries like in Eastern Europe) in 2010.

The average GDP per person across all the people in the EU is indexed to 100 so the UK's index of 112 means we have a 12% higher GDP per person than the average. Luxembourg comes top with 271 - 171% higher than the EU average but that comes from its small population. On GDP per person the UK comes 10th out of 27 EU countries. The top 10 are Luxembourg, Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Finland, UK. We come just ahead of France, Italy and Spain who are 11th-13th. The bottom three are Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria.

Compared with countries not in the EU, if Norway and Switzerland were in the EU they would have come 2nd and 3rd ahead of the Netherlands.

The interesting figure that comes out of this is what happens when you go from GDP per person to AIC (Average Individual Consumption) per person. GDP includes consumer spending, business investment, government spending and net exports. If you just measure the average amount of goods and services consumed by individuals (whether they are paid for by individuals, government or non profit organisations) then UK jumps from 10th to 2nd behind Luxembourg. This suggests that UK citizens benefit more from goods and services provided to them by government than others (I expect free healthcare boosts this measure). The top ten on this measure becomes Luxembourg, UK, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, France, Finland, Belgium. We have probably leapfrogged Germany because they are ahead of us on GDP per capita due to their large net exports but in terms of the aggregate level of goods and service being consumed by citizens, the UK is ahead of Germany.

OK firstly I know these are not 'perfect' measures of living standards and they don't reflect distributional issues however with those disclaimers in mind the following figures are interesting: epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ ... -BP-EN.PDF

They are showing GDP per person (adjusted for purchasing power parity, ie taking into account the fact prices are lower in some countries like in Eastern Europe) in 2010.

The average GDP per person across all the people in the EU is indexed to 100 so the UK's index of 112 means we have a 12% higher GDP per person than the average. Luxembourg comes top with 271 - 171% higher than the EU average but that comes from its small population. On GDP per person the UK comes 10th out of 27 EU countries. The top 10 are Luxembourg, Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Finland, UK. We come just ahead of France, Italy and Spain who are 11th-13th. The bottom three are Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria.

Compared with countries not in the EU, if Norway and Switzerland were in the EU they would have come 2nd and 3rd ahead of the Netherlands.

The interesting figure that comes out of this is what happens when you go from GDP per person to AIC (Average Individual Consumption) per person. GDP includes consumer spending, business investment, government spending and net exports. If you just measure the average amount of goods and services consumed by individuals (whether they are paid for by individuals, government or non profit organisations) then UK jumps from 10th to 2nd behind Luxembourg. This suggests that UK citizens benefit more from goods and services provided to them by government than others (I expect free healthcare boosts this measure). The top ten on this measure becomes Luxembourg, UK, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, France, Finland, Belgium. We have probably leapfrogged Germany because they are ahead of us on GDP per capita due to their large net exports but in terms of the aggregate level of goods and service being consumed by citizens, the UK is ahead of Germany.

www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/ma ... ing-h.ours

(The Guardian would never mislead - like it didn't over the NOTW!)

www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/ma ... ing-h.ours

(The Guardian would never mislead - like it didn't over the NOTW!)

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It works when I click on it. You can access it via Google.

It works when I click on it. You can access it via Google.

I think the data Dally is looking for regarding working hours is here: www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog ... king-hours, it came out last week.

The UK is around in the middle of the EU countries for average working hours but this is distorted because the UK has a higher proportion of part time workers (the flip side of our flexible labour market that means we have lower unemployment than most EU countries). When you use the figures for average hours worked of full time workers, the UK is 3rd with only Austria and Greece ahead.

On productivity per hour worked the UK is slightly above the EU average but below the Eurozone average, with Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, France and Ireland the top five. It's interesting to see France much higher than us for productivity per hour worked, considering France has a larger public sector than the UK, greater employment legislation and is heavily unionised, people say that would make them less efficient but they are more productive than the largely deregulated UK.

I think the data Dally is looking for regarding working hours is here: www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog ... king-hours, it came out last week.

The UK is around in the middle of the EU countries for average working hours but this is distorted because the UK has a higher proportion of part time workers (the flip side of our flexible labour market that means we have lower unemployment than most EU countries). When you use the figures for average hours worked of full time workers, the UK is 3rd with only Austria and Greece ahead.

On productivity per hour worked the UK is slightly above the EU average but below the Eurozone average, with Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, France and Ireland the top five. It's interesting to see France much higher than us for productivity per hour worked, considering France has a larger public sector than the UK, greater employment legislation and is heavily unionised, people say that would make them less efficient but they are more productive than the largely deregulated UK.

I find it ironic that our press have been full of stories about the Greeks being lazy and workshy, hence the cause of their countries problems, yet they work more hours than the average Brit.

I find it ironic that our press have been full of stories about the Greeks being lazy and workshy, hence the cause of their countries problems, yet they work more hours than the average Brit.

Yes and actually David Cameron is an advocate of the "happiness index" type figures to say there is more to life than measuring GDP (obviously because he knows we won't have much GDP growth while he's PM).

The UN has a Human Development Index which covers a number of areas, life expectancy, years of schooling, poverty rate, inequality levels, gender inequality, per capita income etc. It is more revealing when looking at developing countries and seeing which ones are gaining ground on others in terms of escaping poverty. Their rankings are here: hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

The UK is 28th. Top 10 are Norway, Australia, Netherlands, USA, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Sweden.

India, which is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and has high levels of wealth at the top end, comes 134th, behind Iraq (132). China is 101. Israel is surprisingly high on that list at 17, ahead of France (20).

The OECD also has a "Better Life Index" www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/ and on their website you can change the weightings of each category to create a table based on what you think is important. Their index covers things like life satisfaction, access to jobs, access to housing, environment, work-life balance etc.

On the 2009 figures with all their categories equally weighted there is a general correlation with GDP per capita:

Yes and actually David Cameron is an advocate of the "happiness index" type figures to say there is more to life than measuring GDP (obviously because he knows we won't have much GDP growth while he's PM).

The UN has a Human Development Index which covers a number of areas, life expectancy, years of schooling, poverty rate, inequality levels, gender inequality, per capita income etc. It is more revealing when looking at developing countries and seeing which ones are gaining ground on others in terms of escaping poverty. Their rankings are here: hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

The UK is 28th. Top 10 are Norway, Australia, Netherlands, USA, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Sweden.

India, which is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and has high levels of wealth at the top end, comes 134th, behind Iraq (132). China is 101. Israel is surprisingly high on that list at 17, ahead of France (20).

The OECD also has a "Better Life Index" www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/ and on their website you can change the weightings of each category to create a table based on what you think is important. Their index covers things like life satisfaction, access to jobs, access to housing, environment, work-life balance etc.

On the 2009 figures with all their categories equally weighted there is a general correlation with GDP per capita: