The cost of housing in our country is ranked 31st among OECD members, which means that in only ten countries does housing spending represent a higher proportion of household income
The British weekly “The Economist” surprised many by choosing Spain as the economy with the best results in 2024, based on five indicators: GDP, stock market, inflation, unemployment and public deficit. Without a doubt, our country stands out for its notable advances in these indicators, but leading the ranking in 2024 may not immediately translate into a tangible improvement in the population’s quality of life. In other words, to what extent does the good evolution of these indicators reflect the well-being of citizens?
Well-being is a concept that encompasses both monetary and non-monetary aspects, the latter being especially difficult to measure. In this context, the OECD has developed the project Better Life Indexwhich identifies 11 essential aspects to evaluate quality of life: housing, income, employment, community, education, environment, civic engagement, health, satisfaction, security and work-life balance. Each of these aspects is measured by indicators that synthesize the situation of 41 developed countries. In addition to providing a score for each of these 11 aspects, the index provides a global ranking of the well-being of countries, considering that all these aspects are equally relevant. Spain is in the median, in position 21, between the maximum in Norway and the minimum in South Africa, standing out for its good results in health, work-life balance and security, while the worst results are recorded in employment, education and satisfaction with life.
This project also offers the possibility for users to create their own well-being indicator, prioritizing the aspects that they consider most important. To do this, simply assign a score between 1 and 5 to each topic, obtaining a final ranking of all countries according to the priorities of each user. Since 2010, the OECD has collected responses from 200,000 users that are available for analysis. The 5,492 Spaniards who participated in this survey consider health, education and satisfaction with life to be the most important, while civic engagement, social connections and, curiously, income, are the aspects considered least relevant. Below is a summary of Spain’s position on the issues that citizens consider priority for their well-being.
In health, Spain occupies sixth position, standing out for its high life expectancy and a subjective perception of health status above average. In contrast, in education, Spain It is below the OECD average, with the indicators used to measure the quality of education being the percentage of the adult population that has completed secondary education and the results of the PISA report. In terms of satisfaction with life, Spaniards rate themselves at 6.5 out of 10, below the OECD average, which is 6.7.
It is evident that well-being indicators are not independent of each other; Better education can have positive effects on employment, income and, ultimately, life satisfaction.
On the other hand, it is surprising that Spain is only slightly below the average in one of the aspects of well-being that generates the most concern among citizens, housing, occupying position 24 and with the United States in first position. However, when analyzing the indicators used in more depth, Spain’s classification in each of them presents significant variations. In the two indicators related to the adequacy of housing, such as the number of rooms and basic facilities, Spain exceeds the OECD average. However, when it comes to the cost of housing, our country ranks 31st, which means that, in only ten countries, spending on housing represents a higher proportion of household income. While the average of the 41 countries in the sample is 20%, in Spain it reaches 21.7%.
Finally, it is important to also focus on the indicator that presents the worst results for Spain, employment, which occupies an intermediate position among the priorities of Spaniards. Four indicators are used to evaluate the employment situation: the long-term unemployment rate, job security (measured as the risk of losing income in the event of unemployment), the employment rate and the average income of a worker. full time. Spain obtains very low scores in the first two indicators, with only three and two countries, respectively, obtaining worse results. The employment rate in Spain is also below the OECD average, in position 32. In terms of income of full-time workers, Spain is in a better position, although it is still in position 23 Although Spain has improved in recent years in some of the employment indicators, such as the employment rate and long-term unemployment, it is necessary to continue advancing in public policies that help reduce unemployment and offer greater protection against it. problematic.
Despite Spain’s good macroeconomic results in 2024, it is essential to expand the analysis to other key aspects of citizens’ well-being. Although progress has been made in employment and other economic aspects, Spain must continue working in key areas such as education, which Spaniards have put at the forefront of the issues that really matter, along with health and life satisfaction. Both education and housing, whose powers are distributed between different levels of administration, must occupy a central place in public policy priorities since they are fundamental to improving the well-being of citizens.
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