Ireland ranked second in the world for quality of life, beating Sweden, Germany and UK
Ireland now in the ‘very high’ camp, ranked joint second with Switzerland and behind only Norway in the ranking
“The Irish economy has almost doubled since 1990, but the biggest driver was actually education. That was the indicator that made relatively more progress since 1990.” Photograph: Gerry Images
Ireland is second only to Norway on a United Nations annual ranking of 189 countries measured according to average longevity, education and income.
The measure puts Ireland ahead of countries including Germany (6), Sweden (7), Australia (8), and the UK (13), and is a stark improvement compared with when the country was assessed when the index was first drawn up in 1990.