Ireland ranked fifth best country for quality of life

Min

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/1105/1224282726984.html

We have a great country even if it is in the stormy waters of an economic recession.

PanchoVilla

gross national income per capita, which is $33,078

Statistics...they can be very misleading. A small minority makes an incredible amount of money while the majority are struggling to get by and losing their homes. I wonder if they rated the number of people on €35k+ and those making less than €35k if we'd still be ranked where we are. I doubt it somehow.

M5

PanchoVilla wrote: »

Statistics...they can be very misleading. A small minority makes an incredible amount of money while the majority are struggling to get by and losing their homes. I wonder if they rated the number of people on €35k+ and those making less than €35k if we'd still be ranked where we are. I doubt it somehow.

You can apply that to other countries too though..... We are better off even now than a lot of countries in Europe. Although i struggle to see how we finished ahead of ze Germans

MonaghanPenguin

PanchoVilla wrote: »

Statistics...they can be very misleading. A small minority makes an incredible amount of money while the majority are struggling to get by and losing their homes. I wonder if they rated the number of people on €35k+ and those making less than €35k if we'd still be ranked where we are. I doubt it somehow.

I guessed it would take less than 10 minutes for the first whinger to show up. I was right.

"the majority are struggling to get by and losing their homes." ? Really? Broad sweeping and incorrect analysis much? Some perspective might be required.

bizmark

Trying to post anything positive on boards is fairly pointless tbh its the site for doom and gloom crap 24/7

coffee_cake

M5 wrote: »

You can apply that to other countries too though..... We are better off even now than a lot of countries in Europe. Although i struggle to see how we finished ahead of ze Germans

Their shops close on sundays and they don't have online ordering grocery delivery :eek:
Apparently they don't get free tap water in restaurants either


That puts us ahead as I see it :D

mikemac

PanchoVilla wrote: »

while the majority are struggling to get by and losing their homes.

Rents have collapsed.
Mortgage rates are low though I don't know a whole lot about mortgages.

We all pay an income levy.
But if you still have your job and haven't have your pay cut then realy, you're almost better off.
If you're paying above the market rates your landlord thinks you are a fool

If you don't have a job then my sympathies but don't post here about the "majority"
Over one and half million head off to work every day

Too much doom and gloom

Ponster

This isn't really surprising really. For the past 30 years the country has been climbing the UNDP ladder, moving up from 15th position in 2000.


The fact that we're fifth isn't surprising based on what the stats are based on (i.e. life expectancy, education levels and GNI per capita. What is interesting is that in 2006 we were in 4th position and it'll be interesting to see over the next 10 years if we drop back down to our pre-celtic tiger levels (about 20th I believe)


http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/IRL.html

PanchoVilla

M5 wrote: »

You can apply that to other countries too though..... We are better off even now than a lot of countries in Europe. Although i struggle to see how we finished ahead of ze Germans

Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada...I would imagine these would be much better places to live than Ireland...definitely the U.S. anyway. I didn't know the UN had a department of propaganda. I guess you learn something new everyday.

Oh, and it's nothing to do with doom and gloom. I'm just not so easily won over by ridiculous statistics used by the national media to divert attention away from the serious problem this country is facing. When I read something in the paper saying something along the lines of "XYZ corporation has reopened it's doors in Ireland and 500 people are back to work" I'll stop being so cynical.

Ponster

Here are a few interesting bits from the report :

And 58 countries retained the death penalty, though most did not use it.36 Not only are abuses of human rights prevalent, but in
many countries people feel that they cannot express themselves freely: in about a third of 142 countries polled between 2006 and 2009, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa but also in much of Latin America and the Caribbean, at least 25 percent of respondents felt that “most people” in their country were afraid to openly express their political views.In all but two countries,
Botswana and Ireland, fewer than half the respondents felt that “no one is afraid” to express political views.

Indonesia’s per capita income is slightly higher than Mongolia’s, but its maternal mortality ratio is more than 9 times higher. Maternal mortality in the United States is 11 times that of Ireland, the leading country on this front.

enda1

PanchoVilla wrote: »

Statistics...they can be very misleading. A small minority makes an incredible amount of money while the majority are struggling to get by and losing their homes. I wonder if they rated the number of people on €35k+ and those making less than €35k if we'd still be ranked where we are. I doubt it somehow.

The majority are not losing their houses. Don't speak such drivel. It is an overwhelming minority that are in this situation.

coffee_cake

PanchoVilla wrote: »

...definitely the U.S. anyway..

No thanks, you can keep it, I doubt it's better

Maternal mortality
in the United States is 11 times that of Ireland, the leading country on this front.

That's unreal!
well there you go then

dr.bollocko

Eh, Australia is ranked higher. Poll null and void.
/shakes fist.

Einhard

PanchoVilla wrote: »

Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada...I would imagine these would be much better places to live than Ireland...definitely the U.S. anyway. I didn't know the UN had a department of propaganda. I guess you learn something new everyday.

Ah right, so "you imagine" that things are better in all these other countries, but dismiss reports which actually use statistical analysis to show that this might not necessarily be the case. Such an objective methodology...

I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't be so dismissive were the report to show the opposite. People would be all over it, claiming that, at last, they had empirical evidence to back up their claims that Ireland was a miserable hellhole.

Oh, and it's nothing to do with doom and gloom. I'm just not so easily won over by ridiculous statistics used by the national media to divert attention away from the serious problem this country is facing. When I read something in the paper saying something along the lines of "XYZ corporation has reopened it's doors in Ireland and 500 people are back to work" I'll stop being so cynical.

Unemployment has fallen for the past two months in a row for the first time since 2007. The drop in October was the largest monthly fall since the 1960s. Did that dent your cynicsim? Or is that just propaganda too?

Irish people are almost maschocistic in their determination to look on the negatives to the exclusion of all positives. It must be something to do with our Catholic heritage, a hang over from the days of mortification and flagellation. Just because one acknowledges the odd positive story doesn't mean that one is burying one's head in the sand, or refusing to accept reality.

enda1 wrote: »

The majority are not losing their houses. Don't speak such drivel. It is an overwhelming minority that are in this situation.

Can there be such a thing as an overwhelming minority?!

enda1

PanchoVilla wrote: »

Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada...I would imagine these would be much better places to live than Ireland...definitely the U.S. anyway. I didn't know the UN had a department of propaganda. I guess you learn something new everyday.

Oh, and it's nothing to do with doom and gloom. I'm just not so easily won over by ridiculous statistics used by the national media to divert attention away from the serious problem this country is facing. When I read something in the paper saying something along the lines of "XYZ corporation has reopened it's doors in Ireland and 500 people are back to work" I'll stop being so cynical.

I live in Belgium and have lived in USA.

Both are worse to live in that Ireland.
Have you tried either or are you just being negative for the sake of it.

Belgium has the highest tax rates in Europe and for more than half the time I've been living here has had no Government!!

The services are shockingly poor considering the money pumped into them. A friends Mother spent 6 hours in A&E (without being seen) the other day then the night in the corridor after having a heart attack! (lack of beds). The whole country reeks of communism. Shops not open on Sundays, nor after 8 in the evening (even supermarkets). Service being horribly slow and cold.

Jesus. Get out there and see how the reality is and you will see how well off* you are in Ireland.

*not just a monetary wealth I speak of.


Oh and Ernst & Young announced that they will recruit for 300 jobs, only 2 days ago.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1103/breaking9.html?via=mr

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

bluewolf wrote: »

Their shops close on sundays and they don't have online ordering grocery delivery :eek:
Apparently they don't get free tap water in restaurants either


That puts us ahead as I see it :D

Neither is true. Plus, I can beer at 2am at 1 euro a bottle !

The avarage German wage is a bit lower than the average Irish wage, is my guess. I notce the report is made by the World bank, which means the poll is probbalz bases purely on money. I wonder if they took public services into account? Or, as someone said, did they just rate people over a certain wage?

EDIT - No link to the actual survey from the Irish times... Would have made commenting a lot more acurate.

coffee_cake

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Neither is true. Plus, I can beer at 2am at 1 euro a bottle !

You must be in a handier area than himself has ever lived
The whole sunday shop thing really kills me


edit: ah yeah Berlin, that'd want to be different

Einhard

enda1 wrote: »

Oh and Ernst & Young announced that they will recruit for 300 jobs, only 2 days ago.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1103/breaking9.html?via=mr

Propaganda!!:eek:

You're ruining the doom and gloom man!! Negativity is in this Autumn it seems, even if it does harm our economic recovery. It's funny, but I remember two years ago, we were actually proclaiming ourselves in the midst of a recession before we had actually met the criteria for one, and now that we're actually out of recession we refuse to acknowledge it!!

danbohan

Einhard wrote: »

Ah right, so "you imagine" that things are better in all these other countries, but dismiss reports which actually use statistical analysis to show that this might not necessarily be the case. Such an objective methodology...

I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't be so dismissive were the report to show the opposite. People would be all over it, claiming that, at last, they had empirical evidence to back up their claims that Ireland was a miserable hellhole.



Unemployment has fallen for the past two months in a row for the first time since 2007. The drop in October was the largest monthly fall since the 1960s. Did that dent your cynicsim? Or is that just propaganda too?

Irish people are almost maschocistic in their determination to look on the negatives to the exclusion of all positives. It must be something to do with our Catholic heritage, a hang over from the days of mortification and flagellation. Just because one acknowledges the odd positive story doesn't mean that one is burying one's head in the sand, or refusing to accept reality.



Can there be such a thing as an overwhelming majority?!

its nice that members of fianna fail are still posting on boards , i hope you are not stupid enough to think their has actually been a drop in unemployment , people are leaving this country in droves . now you may well be a public sector employee so unaware of things in the real world

Ireland is still a great country , still a rich country , still a better place to live than many other countries but it has many problems so no point in trying to deny that either .

ch750536

M5 wrote: »

You can apply that to other countries too though..... We are better off even now than a lot of countries in Europe. Although i struggle to see how we finished ahead of ze Germans

Says someone that never lived in Germany....

Ponster

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

EDIT - No link to the actual survey from the Irish times... Would have made commenting a lot more acurate.

Here ya go : (about 12Mb)

http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Complete.pdf


And here is a link to the actual tables/graphs for those who don't like reading (it seems that we have one of the lowest literacy rates among OECD countries !


http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Tables.pdf

Einhard

danbohan wrote: »

its nice that members of fianna fail are still posting on boards , i hope you are not stupid enough to think their has actually been a drop in unemployment , people are leaving this country in droves . now you may well be a public sector employee so unaware of things in the real world

I wish people would cease with this nonsensical labelling of people who happen to hold an opposing viewpoint. It's irritating, and makes the person who comes out with it look like an idiot. I'm not a FF supporter, you're probably not an idiot, so what say we quit with such labels?

Ireland is still a great country , still a rich country , still a better place to live than many other countries but it has many problems so no point in trying to deny that either .

Nobody's denying them. You'd have to have lived in a cave over the past few years to do so. But I think we should be able to acknowledge the odd positive too. If you think that makes me a FF lackey, so be it; I'd rather look at it as realism.

bizmark

Tbh i love this country i wouldn't live anywhere else and im getting sick of all this negativity because really all you have to do is go outside and look around any city or town to relies your still very very lucky to live here or drive into the country and enjoy whats right here in the country which is quite possible one of the most beautifully ones around

jester77

bluewolf wrote: »

Their shops close on sundays and they don't have online ordering grocery delivery :eek:
Apparently they don't get free tap water in restaurants either


That puts us ahead as I see it :D

Sunday is considered a family day in Germany, that's the reason the shops close. Not a fan of this! And you can get water, just ask for tafelwasser

There is no minimum wage in Germany (there are exceptions for certain professions), you don't get the silly amount of social welfare like you do in Ireland, have a read about Hartz IV. You don't want to be a long term unemployed person in Germany. Standard of living is good but not if you are long term unemployed. That would be one of the main reasons Ireland is above Germany in the rankings.

coffee_cake

jester77 wrote: »

Sunday is considered a family day in Germany, that's the reason the shops close. Not a fan of this! And you can get water, just ask for tafelwasser

I will try next time
I got a small coke last time we were out and it was smaller than I expected so himself says "oh you can get another"
I say "ah I'll be grand i'll get tap water"
"eh you cant get that here"
"whaaaat :eek: "
"yeah if you ask for it they'll only bring a bottle"


I like the transport though, seems way more reliable than ours
and some stuff is cheaper but some isn't

bernardo mac

Crime,corruption,murder,health services etc.FF and business friends living beyond our means,drug addiction,alcohol,violence,depression,suicide rates...........???

PanchoVilla

bernardo mac wrote: »

Crime,corruption,murder,health services etc.FF and business friends living beyond our means,drug addiction,alcohol,violence,depression,suicide rates...........???

Shh..you're not supposed to mention those things. Apparently what constitutes a high standard of living is down to life expectancy (more time being ignored by society in a nursing home), gross national income per capita, and time spent in school (although our literacy rate is apparently terrible).

senordingdong

The flawed result of a flawed measuring system.

MonaghanPenguin

bernardo mac wrote: »

Crime,corruption,murder,health services etc.FF and business friends living beyond our means,drug addiction,alcohol,violence,depression,suicide rates...........???

Our Crime and Murder rates are low by international comparison. A murder will still make headline news here compared to other places. Ours is one of the least corrupt countries in the world. Our Health Service is certainly less than perfect but ya know, again in actual comparisons it's not third world. Our drug problems aren't on the scale seen in the likes of other areas of large urban decay.

The levels of violence in this country aren't even comparable to other countries, ever been warned not to wear certain football jerseys anywhere in this country for fear of winding up on the wrong side of an attack?

I'm not saying Ireland is perfect, nor should we stop looking at areas to fix, but wake up and stop thinking yours/ours is the worst plight in the world.

amacachi

MonaghanPenguin wrote: »

Our Crime and Murder rates are low by international comparison. A murder will still make headline news here compared to other places. Ours is one of the least corrupt countries in the world. Our Health Service is certainly less than perfect but ya know, again in actual comparisons it's not third world. Our drug problems aren't on the scale seen in the likes of other areas of large urban decay.

The levels of violence in this country aren't even comparable to other countries, ever been warned not to wear certain football jerseys anywhere in this country for fear of winding up on the wrong side of an attack?

I'm not saying Ireland is perfect, nor should we stop looking at areas to fix, but wake up and stop thinking yours/ours is the worst plight in the world.

You're wrong, it's awful, it's terrible, there's nowhere worse, I'd sooner live in a cardboard box in the jungle in Borneo. Obviously though, despite how much I hate it I'll stay and make no effort to improve it!

prinz

jester77 wrote: »

Sunday is considered a family day in Germany, that's the reason the shops close. Not a fan of this!

Different strokes for different folks. Personally I like it, and think it would add to quality of life, particularly if you work in a shop/supermarket.

jester77 wrote: »

And you can get water, just ask for tafelwasser

+1.