美国是幸福指数最高的国家之一.

　　Americans earn $54,450 a year on average, much more than the OECD average of $34,466

　　On a scale of 0 to 10, U.S. residents said their general satisfaction with life was at 7.0 grade

　　U.S. has much higher rate of murders than other countries and low work-life balance score

　　Greece, Hungary, Estonia, Mexico, Brazil and Chile are among those ranked at the bottom

　　Americans are among the most satisfied people in the world - possibly in part due to their higher-than-average annual incomes, according to an OECD study released Tuesday.

　　The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development used answers from a Gallup World Poll of some 1,000 responders in each of over 30 industrialized and developing economies, asking them to rate life satisfaction from 0 to 10.

　　Compared with other OECD countries, the U.S. excelled in many of the 11 criteria that the OECD considers as essential to a good life, including income and wealth; jobs and earnings; housing conditions and governance.

　　According to the survey, the U.S. ranked at the top in housing, income and wealth and above the OECD average in the dimensions of health status, jobs and earnings, subjective well-being, personal security, environmental quality, civic engagement and education and skills.

　　In the U.S., people earn $54,450 a year on average, much more than the OECD average of $34,466 and the highest rate across the OECD. But there is a substantial gap between the richest and poorest, with the top 20 per cent of the population earning eight times as much as the bottom 20 per cent.

　　But the country was in the bottom 20 per cent in categories of work-life balance and social connections.

　　Life is good: The U.S. excelled in many of the 11 criteria that the OECD considers as essential to a good life, including income and wealth; jobs and earnings; housing conditions and governance

　　When asked to rate their general satisfaction with life on a scale from 0 to 10, people in the U.S. gave it a 7.0 grade, higher than the OECD average of 6.6. For comparison, Residents in the U.K. rated their life satisfaction at 6.8.

　　Along with the U.S., Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland dominated the index in terms of a general sense of well-being.

　　On the other end of the spectrum, Chile, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Mexico, Portugal and Turkey had the lowest scores.

　　It found life satisfaction scores dropped by more than 20 per cent in Greece over the five years to 2012, while Spain saw a fall of 12 per cent and Italy a drop of 10 per cent.

　　The largest impact of the global economic crisis on Americans&apos well-being has come through higher unemployment, which increased by nearly 2 per cent compared to employment rate, which plunged more than 4 per cent between 2007 and 2012.

　　During the same time period, the percentage of Americans describing themselves as very satisfied with their lives dropped from 78 per cent to 67 per cent.

　　‘People feel like the government is unable to help them get out of the crisis,’ OECD chi statistician Martine Durand told Reuters.

　　The crisis has not only eroded confidence in public institutions in countries worst-hit by the financial crisis but across the developed-economy countries of the OECD organisation as a whole, the study found.

　　Only 40 per cent of people questioned for the report had trust in their government, the lowest level since 2006.

　　The report, which covered the 34 OECD countries as well as Brazil and Russia, is part of an OECD drive to go beyond traditional economic measures such as gross domestic product by looking at indicators on things such as education, work-life balance and civic engagement.

　　People in the U.S. work 1,787 hours a year, more than the OECD average of 1,776 hours, earning the country a low work-life balance rank.

　　The U.S. is also lagging behind in safety. According to the survey, American homicide rate stands at 4.8, compared to the OECD average of 2.2.

　　In terms of education, nearly 90 per cent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 64 have earned the equivalent of a high school diploma, which is above average.

　　But U.S. students&apos scores in reading, math and sciences falls just under the OECD average.

　　相关介绍：

　　调查范围涵盖34个OECD成员国以及巴西、俄罗斯。1000多名受访者接受了问卷调查，受访者对幸福指数从0到10打分。在11项指标当中，美国在收入、工作、住房情况以及政府满意度等方面得分出色。

　　调查结果显示，美国在住房、收入两方面得分最高，在健康状况、工作、福利、个人安全、环境质量、教育技能等方面也高于OECD平均水平。美国人平均年收入54,450美元，排名第一，远高于OECD平均值34, 466美元。但美国贫富差距巨大，最富阶层(占20%)收入是最穷阶层(占20%)收入的8倍。

　　论总体幸福指数，美国得分7.0，高于OECD平均值6.6，澳大利亚，加拿大、丹麦、挪威、瑞典和瑞士也名列前茅。而智利、爱沙尼亚、希腊、匈牙利、墨西哥、葡萄牙以及土耳其幸福指数最低。

　　美国人平均每年工作1787小时，工作生活平衡指数较低。另外，美国安全指数也较低，美国谋杀率是4.8，OECD平均值仅2.2。

　　25到64岁的美国人有90%左右接受过高中以澳际育，高于OECD平均水平，但是美国学生在阅读、数学以及科学方面低于OECD平均水平。