No 147: Don't live here!

A NEW survey claims that the UK is the second-worst European country to live in .

http://www.uswitch.com/news/money/uk-worst-place-to-live-in-europe-uswitch-quality-of-life-index-890419/

According to the article:

"People in the UK pay the highest prices for food and diesel, yet the government spends below the European average (as a percentage of GDP) on health and education. We also work longer hours, retire later, receive less annual leave than most of our European counterparts and get less sunshine along the way – not to mention the fact that we can expect to die two years younger than our French counterparts."

Therefore the message to you would appear to be: get your excellent university degree from the UK, but don't stay here afterwards!

However, as usual, a closer look at the statistics is interesting, to me at least! Firstly, only 10 countries are included in the study. Secondly, take a look a list of indicators used in the research:

1.  net household income after tax
2. VAT
3. average working hours per week
4. hours of sunshine per year
5. retirement age
6. number of days holiday per year
7. education spending as % of GDP
8. health spending as % of GDP
9. fuel unleaded gasoline per litre
10. fuel diesel per litre
11. gas per GJ
12. electricity per kWh
13. alcohol prices index
14. food prices index
15. cigarette prices per 20
16. life expectancy 

I have no problem with the use of stats number 1-8 and 16. What worries me is that there are 7 out of 16 indicators about cost of goods and services, which appears unbalanced. Thus, a country like Poland, which has by far the lowest income, scores well in the survey because its prices are so low.

Can you please notice any other possible problems which can help save my wonderful country from being called the 2nd worst place to live in Europe?