[caption id="attachment_68971" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Professor John Monaghan, Saint Vincent De Paul National Vice President, urging Christmas donations to the long running charity. "]
Okay, so these are hard times in Ireland and the entire island nearly blew away again last weekend with what was the latest of one of those disturbingly regular and nameless winter storms, the kind that pack winds pushing 100 mph.
Nevertheless, several studies and reports that cropped up in 2011 revealed that Ireland was one of the better places on the planet to call home.
First up, the United Nations human development index ranked the Republic near the very top of the pile of world nations. Ireland came seventh in the top "Very High Human Development" category behind Norway, Australia, Netherlands, United States, New Zealand and Canada, but ahead of the likes of Germany, Sweden Japan and indeed the United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland) which came in at number 28.
47 nations made it into this top tier below which was the category entitled "High Human Development." Below this again were the "medium" and "low" categories. Suffice it to say, you might want to reconsider relocating to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the foreseeable future as it ranked at the very bottom.
With regard to cities, meanwhile, Dublin ranked 26th in the world for quality of living, this in a clatter of 221 cities worldwide rated in a survey published by the Mercer consultancy group. The "Quality of Living" survey placed Vienna at the very top with Baghdad at the very bottom.
Meanwhile, studies are showing that Irish people are living 10 years longer than they were 50 years ago, thus getting a greater chance to enjoy their top ranked country.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, in a study that emerged at the end of November, showed that the average Irish person will live to see 80, whereas, in 1960, 70 was the limit for the average person.
And there must be some connection between giving and living because Ireland is right up there in terms of charity. Ireland came tops in a European survey and is the most charitable of the lot despite the hard times that are in it.
As well as being the biggest givers in Europe, the Irish are the second most charitable people in the world after, drum roll, the United States.
According to the "World Giving Index," drawn up by the Charities Aid Foundation, 75 percent of Irish people donated money to charity while 38 percent volunteered their time each month. Ireland additionally had the highest percentage of residents who said they had "helped a stranger" the previous month, this being 65 percent.
Interestingly, the study revealed that Irish women are more generous than men when it comes to giving money, but that men are more inclined to give of their time to charitable causes.
So all in all then, some things to be cheerful about as we step into the year in which, according to the Mayans, Nostradamus and others, the world is going to end. Oh well!
