No reporting of this good economic news on the BBC, I wonder why?

A recent OECD study ahs found that quality of life in the UK has been only 'modestly affected' by the global financial crisis with happiness and even trust in the government rising, this is in marked contrast with the UK's neighbours in the Eurozone. According to the OECD whilst the recession sent unemployment rising and did put a squeeze on living standards in Britain, as elsewhere, the drop in national morale seen in other countries is just 'not visible' in the UK.

The OECD study found that the British enjoy the highest levels of income, job security, clean air and water, personal safety and democratic accountability in the OECD and some of the strongest friendship networks.

In the UK the proportion of people who said they were very satisfied with their lives overall edged upwards from 63 per cent to 64 per cent. By way of contrast in Greece, which was worst hit by the Eurocrisis, reported satisfaction with life fell by 20 per cent between 2007 and 2012. It fell by 12 per cent in Spain and 10 per cent in Italy.


Across the Eurozone the proportion of people who said that they trust their national government fell by 10 per cent in the five years to 2012. However in Britain it rose from 36 per cent to 47 per cent.

The OECD study 'How's Life' ranks Britain along with Switzerland, Australia, Scandanavia, Canada and New Zealand in the top tier with regards to the quality of life across 34 leading countries.

In their commentary to the study's findings the OECD said:

'In the OECD as a whole, the poor employment situation had a major impact on life satisfaction...

This trend is not visible in the United Kingdom where, from 2007 to 2012, the percentage of British people declaring being very satisfied with their lives increased from 63 per cent to 64 per cent.'

So there's some good news about life in Britain today, but as it doesn't conform to the Labour Party / BBC narrative you will not be surprised to learn that I can find no reference to this OECD report on the BBC.

How odd, or rather predictable.