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Some happy Sydneysiders

Living in Australia offers the second highest quality of life in the world, according to a new United Nations report.

Only Norway topped Australia on the UN Development Program’s annual Human Development Index, which takes into account life expectancy, literacy and per capita gross domestic product in 182 countries.

African nation Niger was deemed the worst country to live in, but other high flyers were Iceland (3rd), Canada (4th) and Ireland (5th).

Completing the top 10 were the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan.

Further down the list was the US (13th), New Zealand (20th), the UK (21st) and Germany (22nd).

However, the report’s author has admitted the list was compiled using data from 2007, meaning it pre-dates the global financial crisis.

As a result, the list could look very different next year. For example, Ireland’s current high unemployment could see it drop drastically down the rankings.

Click here for the full list.