Photo: Courtesy of OECD.
If you’ve ever taken a fabulous trip abroad (or witnessed the Facebook spoils of someone else's awesome vacay) and wanted to just move there already, you're not alone. Turns out, plenty of people want to know if the grass really is greener on the other side. So, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) created a cool interactive web tool called the Better Life Index. The site allows you to rank 11 different aspects of your life — think health, job opportunities, and work-life balance — in order of importance, and then shows you the OECD-member countries that align with your priorities. For example, if you care about the environment and a healthy work-life balance, you'd get along just fine in Scandinavia — Sweden, Denmark, and Norway rank highest in those categories. It’s like an online dating site, but instead of finding a compatible hottie, you can discover the perfect place to call home.
The site also lets you explore how certain countries rank within these 11 categories and how they compare to one another. The U.S. received some interesting rankings: In comparison to the other countries listed, the U.S. ranks high in housing and income, but doesn’t stand up too well in work-life balance. (We work a lot.) It's worth noting the survey only covers 36 countries, so the stats aren't comprehensive, but it’s still fun to check out. Who knows, you might discover that Australia or Chile is calling your name. Now, if only you could find a cheap one-way ticket…
(OECD)