Society at a Glance 2019 OECD Social Indicators

Foreword
Table of contents
Acronyms and conventional signs
	OECD country ISO codes
	Other major economy and G20 country ISO codes
	Conventional signs
Executive summary
	LGBT people stand for a sizeable minority
	The share of individuals who self-identify as LGBT is increasing
	Despite a shift toward greater acceptance of sexual and gender minorities, discomfort with homosexual and transgender people is pervasive
	LGBT people report widespread discrimination
	Survey data reveal a significant LGBT penalty in the labour market
	Experimental data confirm that LGBT people are discriminated against
	LGBT people are at greater risk of mental health disorders
	Making LGBT individuals and the penalties they face visible in national statistics is a prerequisite to their inclusion
	Legally prohibiting anti-LGBT discrimination and ensuring equal rights to LGBT individuals is essential to improve their situation
	Educating people in countering their unconscious biases is a key component of any policy package aiming to improve LGBT inclusion
Chapter 1.
The LGBT challenge: How to better include sexual and gender minorities?
	Introduction
		Box 1.1. Who are LGBT people?
	1.1. How many people are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender?
		Figure 1.1. A sizeable minority self-identifies as lesbian, gay or bisexual
		1.1.1. Zooming in on LGB people
			Figure 1.2. There are nearly as many homosexuals as bisexuals
			Figure 1.3. Questions on sexual self-identification yield lower estimates of the share of LGB people than questions on sexual behaviour or sexual attraction
			Box 1.2. Asking questions about sexual orientation in surveys
		1.1.2. What about transgender individuals?
			Box 1.3. Asking questions about gender identity in surveys
		1.1.3. The share of LGBT people is on the rise
			Figure 1.4. The share of people who self-identify as LGB increases over time
			Figure 1.5. The share of LGBT people is likely to continue rising in the future
	1.2. How do LGBT people fare?
		1.2.1. Attitudes toward LGBT people
			Figure 1.6. Despite improvements, acceptance of homosexuality remains limited
			Box 1.4. Measuring acceptance of homosexuality on international surveys
			Figure 1.7. Acceptance of homosexuality is greater among women, younger adults, the better educated and people living in urban areas
			Box 1.5. Measuring acceptance of transgender people in cross-country surveys
			Figure 1.8. Comfort with transgender people is low
			Figure 1.9. Comfort with transgender people improves over time in most countries
			Figure 1.10. Comfort with transgender people is lower than comfort with LGB people
		1.2.2. Are LGBT people discriminated against?
			Figure 1.11. More than one out of three LGBT respondents report having personally felt discriminated against because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity
			Figure 1.12. LGBT people experience gaps in employment status, labour earnings and access to a high managerial position
			Box 1.6. Homophobic and transphobic bullying at school is widespread and hampers LGBT students’ educational achievements
			Figure 1.13. Homosexuals are up to 1.5 times less likely to be invited to a job interview than their heterosexual counterparts
			Box 1.7. Experimental evidence of discrimination against lesbians and gay men outside the labour market
		1.2.3. LGBT people’s well-being
			Box 1.8. Stigma can impair LGBT people’s health outcomes, beyond minority stress
			Figure 1.14. Mental health disorders are more frequent among LGB individuals
			Figure 1.15. LGB people in the United States are more prone to substance use and abuse
			Figure 1.16. LGB people show lower life satisfaction
	1.3. What policies can improve LGBT inclusion?
		Figure 1.17. Acceptance of homosexuality is strongly correlated with support for gender equality worldwide
		1.3.1. Making LGBT individuals and the penalties they face visible in national statistics
			Box 1.9. Lessons from the 2017 census test in the United Kingdom
		1.3.2. Enforcing anti-discrimination and equality laws
			Figure 1.18. There is still a long way before sexual and gender minorities meet full-fledged legal recognition
		1.3.3. Educating people in countering their unconscious biases
			Box 1.10. LGBT-inclusive education policies in European OECD Member countries
	Notes
	References
	Annex1.A.
Data collection on sexual self-identification and gender identity in OECD countries
		Table 1.A.1. List of OECD countries that collect information on sexual self-identification in the framework of nationally representative surveys conducted by public institutions
		Table 1.A.2. List of OECD countries that collect information on gender identity in the framework of nationally representative surveys conducted by public institutions
Chapter 2.
Interpreting OECD Social Indicators
	2.1. The purpose of Society at a Glance
	2.2. The selection and description of indicators
		2.2.1. Risks That Matter
			Table 2.1. List of perception indicators
		2.2.2. General social context indicators
			Table 2.2. List of general context indicators
		2.2.3. Self-sufficiency indicators
			Table 2.3. List of self-sufficiency indicators
		2.2.4. Equity indicators
			Table 2.4. List of equity indicators
		2.2.5. Health indicators
			Table 2.5. List of health indicators
		2.2.6. Social cohesion indicators
			Table 2.6. List of social cohesion indicators
	2.3. What can be found in this publication
	Further reading
Chapter 3. Perceptions of social risks and government effectiveness
	Social and economic risk perceptions and concerns
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
			3.1. People are most concerned with falling ill and struggling to make ends meet
			3.2. In the long run, many people are worried about their pensions
	Perceptions of government effectiveness and fairness
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
			3.3. Few believe they could easily access public benefits if they needed them
			3.4. Many people feel they do not receive the benefits they should, given the taxes they pay
			3.5. In most countries, respondents feel that government does not incorporate the views of people like them when designing social benefits
	Preferences for social policy
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
			3.6. In all but two countries, most people think their government should do more to ensure their economic and social security
			3.7. Almost 40% are willing to pay more in taxes for better pensions and health care
			3.8. Better public education is one of the top priorities for respondents in more unequal countries
Chapter 4. General context indicators
	Household income
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			4.1. Median income varies by a factor of eight from USD 4 900 to USD 41 200
			4.2. Median incomes grew slower than top incomes
			4.3. Most people live in the middle class
	Fertility
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			4.4 Fertility rates across the OECD are typically below the population replacement rate
			4.5. Decline in fertility rates for women under 30 years old and increase for those aged 30 years and older
			4.6. The mean age of women at first birth has risen by three years within two decades
	Migration
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			4.7. In most OECD countries, annual migration flows represent less than 1% of the population
			4.8. One in ten of the OECD population is foreign-born
			4.9. In the EU, interaction with immigrants happens more frequently in the neighbourhood than in the workplace
	Family
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			4.10. Most children live in households with two parents
			4.11. The mean age at first marriage for both women and men rose by 5 years since 1990
			4.12. Marriage rates declined while divorce rates stabilised over the last decades
	Demographic trends
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
			4.13. The old-age dependency ratio will double in the next 45 years
			4.14. The strong decline in the youth dependency ratio has stopped
			4.15. The share of youth in the total population declines in most countries
Chapter 5. Self-Sufficiency indicators
	Employment
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			5.1. Employment rates are generally above pre-crisis levels
			5.2. The share of non-standard workers is high in some countries
			5.3. One-third to two-thirds of jobs are at risk of automation or significant change
	Unemployment
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			5.4. Unemployment rates are below, or close to, pre-crisis levels in many countries
			5.5. More than one in seven young people are not employed nor in education or training
			5.6. More than one-fourth of the workforce is “underutilised”
	Skills
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			5.7. More than five-out-of-ten jobs in shortage are found in high-skilled occupations
			5.8. Increasing shortages of high-level cognitive skills as well as increasing surpluses of routine skills and physical abilities
			5.9. Almost four-out-of-ten workers are either under-qualified or over-qualified
	Education spending
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			5.10. Variation in per student education spending across the OECD
			5.11. Decline in total education spending in percentage of GDP between 2010 and 2015
			5.12. Spending per child tends to increase with the level of education
	Expected years in retirement
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			5.13. Women spend almost five more years in retirement than men
			5.14. Men and women spend 7.5 more years in retirement in 2017 than in 1970
Chapter
6. Equity indicators
	Inequalities
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			6.1. There are large differences in levels of income inequality across the OECD
			6.2. Wealth is more concentrated at the top than income
			6.3. At current levels of intergenerational mobility, it takes on average four to five generations for the offspring of a low-income family to reach the average income
	Poverty
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			6.4. There are large differences in levels of relative poverty across the OECD
			6.5. The evolution of poverty differs if the threshold is “anchored”
			6.6. Poverty is highest among children, youth and elderly, and lowest among adults
	Out-of-work benefits
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			6.7. Increase in recipients of out-of-work benefits in most OECD countries since 2007
			6.8. In most countries, benefit incomes decline significantly for people with long unemployment spells
			6.9. Minimum-income benefits alone cannot prevent income poverty
	Social spending
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			6.10. Public social spending amounts to just over 20% of GDP on average across OECD countries
			6.11. Most spending goes to pensions and health
			6.12. Cash support is not always tightly targeted to the poorest
	Affordable housing
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			6.13. In most OECD countries, owning a home is much more common than renting
			6.14. Low-income dwellers face a significant housing cost burden
			6.15. Children are particularly exposed to poor housing quality
Chapter
7. Health Indicators
	Life expectancy
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			7.1. Life expectancy has increased over the past decades but the gender gap remains considerable
			7.2. Women and men with the highest level of education can expect to live four to seven years longer than people with the lowest level of education
			7.3. Higher health spending is generally associated with higher life expectancy, although the relationship levels off as health spending goes up
	Health spending
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			7.4. Large differences in health spending across the OECD
			7.5. On average health spending growth is still below pre-crisis levels
			7.6. Growth rates in health spending slowed down in the majority of OECD countries in the past decade
	HIV/AIDS
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			7.7. HIV reporting rates have been fairly stable in European OECD countries over the past decade
			7.8. AIDS reporting rates have been declining since the mid-1990s
			7.9. HIV/AIDS death rates declined in most OECD countries over the last two decades
	Suicide
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			7.10. Suicide rates are three-to-four times higher for men than for women on average across OECD countries
			7.11. Suicide rates have been falling on average, but countries display a diverse trend pattern
			7.12. Suicide rates increase with age, except in the first years of retirement
	Tobacco and alcohol consumption
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			7.13. Marked decline in smoking rates among adults in most OECD countries
			7.14. Slight decline in alcohol consumption among adults in many OECD countries
			7.15. One in eight 15-year-olds smoke at least once a week
			7.16. One in five 15-year-olds have been drunk at least twice in their life
Chapter
8. Social Cohesion Indicators
	Life satisfaction
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			8.1. Levels and trends of life satisfaction vary considerably across countries
			8.2. Life satisfaction varies by socio-demographic group
			8.3. A snapshot of people’s daily feelings and emotions
	Confidence in institutions
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			8.4. Less than half of the OECD population reports trust in their national government
			8.5. People have most trust in the local police and military
			8.6. More than half of the population perceives corruption in their government
	Violence against women
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			8.7. One in five women in the OECD report having experienced intimate partner violence
			8.8. Some women condone men’s violence against women
			8.9. Women feel less secure walking alone at night than men
	Voting
		Definition and measurement
		Definition and measurement (cont.)
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			8.10. In most OECD countries there has been a decline in electoral participation
			8.11. One in four young people in OECD are not at all interested in politics
			8.12. Participation in elections is slightly lower for the foreign-born population
	Online activities
		Definition and measurement
		Further reading
		Figure notes
			8.13. There are large variations in Internet use across generations
			8.14. Young people spend more than four hours per day online
			8.15. Teenage girls report more often to be victims of cyberbullying than boys