Sir, Your graphic of the week (Saturday, January 9th) shows Ireland second below Norway and ahead of all other countries on the UN Human Development Index.
This index is based on average longevity, education and national income per capita, which are crude measures and unrepresentative of the reality of the quality of life in Ireland.
The OECD Better Life Index for 2019, which takes into account, housing, household income, earnings, job security and unemployment, quality of social support network, education and what one gets out of it, environmental health, involvement in democracy, health, level of happiness, murder and assault rates, and work–life balance, while still placing Norway first. places Ireland 16th, outranked by 15 other countries.
The Better Life Index gives a more accurate prognosis of the quality of life in our country.
We have much more to do to create the quality of life enjoyed by the citizens of Norway. – Yours, etc,
HUGH McDERMOTT,
Dromahair,
Co Leitrim.