While Australia tops the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developmen (OECD) index list, Greece has fallen bellow the average in most areas.
Taking into account areas like housing, income, education, health and civic engagement, the list profiles 36 counties and ranks them in those areas.
Australians were catagorised as the happiest, while Greece was the second lowest on the list in terms of life satisfaction.
The average household net-adjusted disposable income was $US28,884 a year for Australians, while Greece languished at barely over $20 440 USD.
In times of crisis, many would expect wallets to tighten, but civic duties and the willingness to help others took a back seat. Only 30 per cent of people reported having helped a stranger in the last month, “one of the lowest in the OECD”.
For a country ingrained with the ideals of ‘filotimo’ (civic kindness), it shows many just can’t justify charity when they themselves are close to needing it. “A weak social network can result in limited economic opportunities, a lack of contact with others, and eventually, feelings of isolation,” the OECD report concluded.
Stress might have also pushed many to take up or keep smoking, with Greece having the “highest rate of daily smokers among adults of all OECD countries with a rate of 31.9%”.
There is a considerable gap between the richest and poorest – the top 20% of the population earn six times as much as the bottom 20%.
While many have been vocal about Greeks being ‘lazy’, the OECD has found that Greeks work 2032 hours a year, one of the highest rates and much more than the OECD average of 1776 hours. That is if they have work. Just over half of all Greeks aged 15 to 64 have a paid job.
Australians are amazingly underworked, just under the average at 1693 hours a year.