Abstract
The Better Life Index (BLI) is a composite index published by the OECD since 2011. The aim of this study is to provide an alternative ranking of the 38 OECD countries using the 2024 data. The BLI does not have one unified weighting scheme, whereas the index users can decide on the indicator categories’ importance. The index comprises 34 indicators divided into 11 categories. To assess the BLI, the I-distance method was applied. The first step in the analysis was data imputation as multiple data were missing. The data was imputed using the mean and the median, based on the normality test results. The two-fold I-distance was applied: first, on the indicator level within categories and second, on the category level. On the indicator level, the results show that the indicators are not always equally important. For example, within category Housing, indicator Dwellings without basic facilities is the least important. Applying the I-distance on the formed categories provided insights into the importance of categories for the ranking process. Categories Life satisfaction and Health contribute the most to ranking process. Luxembourg leads the ranks with 64.680 points, followed by New Zealand and Switzerland. The results show how BLI data can be used to rank countries and provide insights into the importance of specific aspects of life that contribute to a better, longer, and higher-quality life. Acknowledgement: This research was supported by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, Grant no. 7358, Population dynamics under environmental challenges in Serbia – POPENVIROS.
Presenters
Milica MaričićAssistant Professor, Department of Operational Research and Statistics, University of Belgrade - Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Serbia Veljko Jeremic
Natalija Miric
Assistant professor , Demography, University of Belgrade Faculty of Geography, Belgrade, Serbia
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Economic and Demographic Perspectives on Aging
KEYWORDS
Better Life Index, Ranking, Importance of indicators, Quality of life
