Release of "Society at a Glance 2009: OECD Social Indicators" >see www.oecd.org/els/social/indicators/SAG 

04/05/2009 - Society at a Glance gives an overview of social trends and policy developments in OECD countries using indicators taken from OECD studies and other sources. It attempts to help people see how their societies have changed, particularly in comparison with other countries.

A special chapter in the report investigates leisure time in the 18 OECD countries for which up-to-date time-use surveys are available. The time-use surveys included in this report are from 2006 and based on nationally representative samples of between 4000 and 200000 people.

The report reveals big differences in the amount of time men and women have for leisure. Italian men have nearly 80 minutes a day of leisure more than women. Much of the additional work of Italian women is apparently spent cleaning the house. Norway is the most equal society, with men having only a few more minutes of leisure than women.

The French spend more time sleeping than anyone else in OECD countries. They also devote more time to eating than anyone else and nearly double that of Americans, Canadians or Mexicans. The Japanese sleep nearly an hour less every night than the French and also spend longer at work and commuting than they do indulging in leisure activities.

Norwegians spend just over a quarter of their time on leisure, the highest among OECD countries, while Mexicans spend just 16%, the lowest.

So what are we doing with our leisure time? Watching TV absorbs nearly half of all leisure time in Mexico and falls to a low of 25% in New Zealand. Turkey is the most sociable nation, spending 35% of leisure time entertaining friends, more than double the OECD average of 11%. But OECD countries are not very physically active: Spain reports the highest proportion of leisure time spent doing regular physical activities. Even there, exercise accounts for a mere 13% of leisure time.

Other social indicators covered in Society at a Glance include adult height, fertility rates, education spending, income inequality, obesity, healthcare spending and life  and work satisfaction.

See www.oecd.org/els/social/indicators/SAG, with KEY FINDINGS for eleven countries, including:

UNITED KINGDOM
Child poverty: Child poverty in the UK is declining. The fall in child poverty rates in the United Kingdom between the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s was the second largest in the OECD after Mexico. The United Kingdom was bucking a trend: on average, child poverty in the OECD rose slightly over the same period.
Age of mothers at first birth: Mothers in the United Kingdom have their first child at a later age than anyone else in the OECD. The average age at first childbirth is 29.8 years, compared to an OECD average of 27.7 years.
Obesity rates: Obesity rates in the United Kingdom are the third highest in the OECD, after Mexico and the United States. The obesity rate has tripled over the past 20 years to reach one in four of the adult population.
Teen drinking: Underage drinking is a big problem in the United Kingdom. Although rates have fallen since 2001/2002, in 2005/2006 one in three girls aged between 13 and 15 said they got drunk regularly in the United Kingdom, more than anywhere else. Boys of the same age were only just behind (32%), second only to Denmark (34%). 
Youth with nothing to do: With around one in ten male teenagers not in education, employment or training, the United Kingdom has the second highest rate in the OECD, after Italy. The rate for females aged between 15 and 19 is lower only than in Italy, Japan, New Zealand and Spain.

UNITED STATES
Adult height: Americans are not getting taller. The United States is the only country in the OECD where men and women aged 45-49 are no taller than those aged 20-24 years old, indicating no improvement in health and social conditions determining gains in height. All other 22 OECD countries are seeing greater height gains between these two generations. 
Net National Income: The United States is one of the richest countries in the OECD. In 2006, the United States had a per capita National Net Income in excess of USD 35 000. Only Luxembourg and Norway were higher.
Fertility: The United States has a much higher fertility rate than most other OECD countries of 2.1 children per mother, compared to an OECD average of 1.65. 
Child poverty: Child poverty has fallen since the mid-1990s but one in five US children still live in poverty, a rate exceeded only in Poland, Mexico, and Turkey. 
Social protection: The United States is the fourth lowest in the OECD in terms of income shares of public social spending. However, when tax breaks for social purposes and private social spending are also considered, social spending in the United States rises above the OECD average of 28% to 31% of income. 
Eating time: Americans spend around an hour and a quarter eating every day, slightly more than only Canadians and Mexicans but less than half the eating time spent by the French. Despite this limited time spent eating, their obesity rates are the highest in the OECD.
Leisure time of men and women: American men have nearly 40 minutes more leisure time than women per day.

FRANCE
Time use: The French spend over two hours a day eating, more than anyone else in the OECD and nearly double the time spent by Americans and Canadians. They also sleep more than anyone else, on average 8.5 hours per night. 
Income inequality: France is one of only five OECD countries where income inequality and poverty fell between the mid-1980s and the mid-2000s. 
Fertility: France has one of the highest fertility rates in Europe and the OECD. French women are also having children later: 28 ½ is the average age of mothers for their first child, up from 24 ½ in 1970. 
Social protection: Spending on public social programs is the highest in the OECD in France, accounting for fully one third of national income, compared with an OECD average of 24%. 
Childcare spending: France's public spending on childcare programmes including nursery schools as a percentage of income is the third highest in the OECD after Iceland and Denmark. 
Life expectancy: With an life expectancy of 84.4 years, French women live on average longer than anyone else in the OECD, other than the Japanese. French men live on average to 77.3, just two years less than Swiss and Icelandic men who live the longest in the OECD (79.2 and 79.4 years respectively).
En français : www.oecd.org/els/social/indicateurs/SAG 
ÉLÉMENTS CLÉ : FRANCE
Utilisation du temps : Les Français passent plus de deux heures par jour à table à manger et boire, plus que tout autre pays de l'OCDE et presque deux fois plus que les Américains et Canadiens. Ils dorment aussi plus que tout autre pays, 8.5 heures par nuit en moyenne. 
Inégalité de revenus : La France est l'un des cinq pays de l'OCDE où les inégalités de revenus et la pauvreté ont baissé durant les 20 dernières années. 
Fécondité : La France a l'un des taux de fécondité les plus élevé parmi les pays européens et de l'OCDE. Les françaises ont aussi leur premier enfant plus tard, à 28 ½ ans alors que c'était à 24 ½ ans en 1970. 
Protection sociale : Les dépenses sociales publiques sont des plus élevées en France à 33% du revenu national, comparées à la moyenne des pays de l'OCDE de 24%.
Garde d'enfants : Les dépenses publiques de services d'accueil de la petite enfance (incluant l'école maternelle) de la France sont parmi les plus élevées, après l'Islande et le Danemark. 
Espérance de vie : Avec une espérance de vie de près de 84 ½ ans, les femmes françaises vivent en moyenne les plus longtemps des pays de l'OCDE, juste après les japonaises (près de 86 ans). Les hommes vivent eux en moyenne près de 77 ½ ans, juste deux ans de moins que les Suisses et les Islandais qui vivent le plus longtemps parmi les pays de l'OCDE (79.2 et 79.4 ans respectivement). 

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