People in BC are more likely to live longer than people living anywhere else in Canada, and have some of the best quality of life in the world, according a new report.
The Human Development Index: Ranking the Provinces and Territories Internationally report was released by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards on Thursday.
The report estimates the Human Development Index (HDI) for the Canadian provinces and territories between 2000 and 2014.
The HDI was developed by the UN based on income, education, and life expectancy and is now an internationally recognized measure of socioeconomic development.
Overall quality of life
Overall, BC was found to have the 2nd highest Human Development Index ranking of all Canadian provinces and territories, beaten out from the top spot by Alberta.
Internationally, that puts BC in joint 11th place with Singapore, with worse quality of life than Canada overall, but ahead of Saskatchewan, Quebec and Hong Kong.
When you break that result down into income, education and life expectancy, things start to get interesting:
Income
In income, BC came 8th in Canada, with an average gross national income of $51,136 per person, compared with the NWT, which came top with earnings of $107,572.
Looking at it internationally, that put BC in joint 24th place with Finland, behind the UK and ahead of Bahrain.
Life expectancy
In terms of life expectancy, people in BC came top in Canada, with a life expectancy of 83.4 years.
That’s pretty fantastic compared to those in Nunavut, who have the worst life expectancy in Canada, at 72.7 years.
On the international HD index, that puts BC in joint 6th place with Iceland, ahead of Spain but just behind Singapore.
Education
In education, BC came 2nd in Canada terms of our average number of years of education right now, with 12.7 years.
In Canada, we were behind only Yukon, where people study for an average of 13 years.
Internationally however, that meant BC came joint 1st with Yukon, Alberta, Ontario, and Germany, ahead of the UK, Canada overall, Australia and Nova Scotia.
But, in terms of how much schooling kids are expected to get if all goes well, BC came 6th in Canada with 15.6 years.
Quebec came top in that category in Canada, with 16.7 years of schooling on the cards.
Internationally, that put BC in joint 36th position, with Poland, behind Uruguay, but ahead of Barbados.
So there you have it, BC is a fairly awesome place to live. Unless you’re planning to get better educated than folks in Barbados. And earn a ton of money.
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