sydney opera house
The Sydney Opera House is reflected in a pool of rain water as it is lit during the Vivid Sydney Festival in Sydney May 27, 2010 Reuters/ Tim Wimborne

People believe it, but it has now been officially declared. Australia is one of the world's best places to live in, according to a new United Nations Human Development report.

Beaten only by Norway, Australia stands second on the list of the best countries to live in terms of holistic working environment.

The ranking list of 188 countries prepared by the UN body looked at the ways how work aided in human development in these countries. Some of the criteria considered included education rate, number of paid women workforce, the country's ability to adapt itself to the digital revolution and its global contribution to trade, reports The Huffington Post.

After Norway and Australia, the 2015 United Nations Human Development Index Report includes Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, United States, Canada and New Zealand as among the best countries to live in.

According to the report, Australia's average full-time working income is around $220 a day, or $1545 a week. Australia did far better than Norway in terms of life expectancy and average number of years spent at school. However, Norway has a greater proportion of women in paid work.

Some of the other countries in the Asia Pacific, except Australia, performed quite badly in the index. The report has revealed that the Asia Pacific region as a whole has the largest number of people "trapped in dangerous and demeaning work including forced labour, trafficking and child labour."

In addition to the best countries, the report also revealed that there are still 830 million people in the world who were “working poor,” that is, those who lived on less than $5 a day. On the other hand, 2 billion people had moved safely out of the low human development countries either because of migration or actual local development in their area.

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