IRELAND HAS BEEN ranked second-highest in the world for quality of life, according to a new study by the United Nations.

The ranking appears in the UN’s annual Human Development Index, which is calculated on health, education and income.

Ireland moves up one place from last year, and now only sits behind Norway, the country deemed to have the best quality of life in the world.

Switzerland, Hong Kong, Iceland, Germany, Sweden, Australia, the Netherlands and Denmark rounded out the top ten for this year.

Ireland has a life expectancy at birth of 82.3 years, joint-15th of 189 countries in the world. Hong Kong’s life expectancy at birth of 84.9 years is the highest in the world.

Ireland also ranks eight for expected years of schooling, with 18.7 years, behind Belgium in first, which has 19.8 years of expected schooling.

And Ireland also came fifth in terms of wealth, with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of $68,371, behind Liechtenstein in first with a GNI per capita of $131,032.

The country with the lowest quality of life was Niger, which also came last in 2019. The ten lowest countries for quality of life are all based in Africa.