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Jersey Drops Five Places On 'Better Life Index'

Jersey has dropped five places on the 'Better Life Index' since it was last measured in 2019.

The island has a score of 6.4 out of 10 and ranks 24th out of 41 nations. That is lower than the UK and France.

In 2019, Jersey ranked 19th out of 39 nations with a score of 6.8 out of 10.

The OECD better life index uses economic indicators from member countries to measure wellbeing.

Jersey measures best in 'community' at joint second overall. Only Iceland rated higher.

Community is judged by the percentage of people who say they have someone to rely on when they need them.

The island also measures favourably in personal safety and jobs and earnings - but has poorer results with income, work-life balance, life satisfaction, and housing.

Average spending on housing in Jersey accounted for more than a quarter of household income. That is the second-worst compared with all OECD countries and 6% more than the OECD average.

2019 saw a drop of nearly 10% in the proportion of people in Jersey reporting good or better health.

The average pay per full-time employee in Jersey is below the OECD average. 77% of people in the island of working age were in some form of employment in 2020 compared to the 66% average across the OECD.

14% of Jersey employees worked 50 hours or more in a usual week during 2019, compared to 11% in the UK and the OECD average of 10%.

Jersey is again bottom of the table for civic engagement, which is measured by voter turnout.

Jersey is placed 11th out of 13th for wellbeing when compared with regions of the UK.

The index shows that the island has an overall wellbeing score of 7 out of 10 and ranks 162nd out of 406 regions.

That's a drop of 26 places compared to 2019.

Improving islanders' wellbeing was one of the government's five priorities - leading Senator Kristina Moore to question its performance over the last four years.

Chief Minister Senator John Le Fondre questioned the civic engagement result and chose to focus on the more positive results.

"We need to understand why we're rated zero for civic engagement because I think the methodology there we need to understand.

Before I comment in greater detail, I want to seek to understand the full impact rather than focusing on a particular number."

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