France vs Australia
France compared with 13 countries on 10 measures that really compare.
Every figure comes from a public source and carries its year.
Whatever cannot be compared between countries is said apart, with figures.
France vs Australia · 10 measures that compareChange
France does better
- safe at night72 vs 66
- housing burden10.7 vs 13.8
- 50-hour weeks5.9 vs 9.7
About the same
- life expectancy83.0 vs 83.0
Australia does better
- homicides1.3 vs 0.8
- maths at 15458 vs 478
- healthy years70.1 vs 70.6
- air8.2 vs 6.4
- income49,616 vs 50,629
- unemployment7.5 vs 4.1
Measure by measure
FranceAUother countries★ EU or OECD average, otherwise median of the countriesbetter to the right →
Safety
12th of 14 · 1.3 homicides /100k
Compares: A homicide is a death: it is counted much the same way everywhere, which makes it the most comparable measure of violence between countries.
Caveat: France publishes 1.3 (police, UNODC 2023) but 0.8 according to death certificates (WHO via OECD, 2022): two counts, one country. We compare the same source for every country.
Source: UNODC (via World Bank, VC.IHR.PSRC.P5), updated 8 Oct 2026. Years: 2023 (UK, BE: 2021 ; PT: 2022).
Reversed scale: lower is better, so the bar is flipped to keep “better” on the right.
Compares: The same question, asked the same way in every country, to about 1,000 people a year, three years pooled.
Caveat: A feeling, not a risk; about 3,000 answers per country, so a few points of margin.
Source: Gallup World Poll, 2023-2025 average (OECD, How's Life, measure 10_2). Years: 2025.
Compares: One harmonised question from the European survey on income and living conditions.
Caveat: Europe only; the United Kingdom left the survey (last data 2018).
Source: Eurostat, EU-SILC survey (ilc_mddw03), 2023. Years: 2023.
Reversed scale: lower is better, so the bar is flipped to keep “better” on the right.
✓Compares: homicides (a death is counted the same way everywhere) and the same survey question asked in every country.
✗Doesn’t compare: burglaries or assaults recorded by the police. Sweden records 201 sexual offences per 100,000 people, Italy 13: Sweden counts more broadly and victims report more, it is not 16 times more dangerous.
UNODC 2023 (UK, BE: 2021 ; PT: 2022) · Gallup via OECD 2025 · Eurostat EU-SILC (Europe only) 2023
Schools
13th of 14 · 458 pts in maths
Compares: The same test, scored on the same scale, taken by randomly sampled 15-year-olds.
Caveat: A few points is not a gap: France (458) is not significantly different from Germany, Spain, the United States or Portugal. Netherlands, United States and Canada did not meet the sampling standards: take care.
Source: OECD, PISA 2025 (published 8 September 2026), table reproduced by Ireland's national centre (ERC, table 5.1) and by Singapore's Ministry of Education; France and OECD confirmed by the DEPP (NI 26.40). Years: 2025.
✓Compares: the same test, scored on the same scale, taken by randomly sampled 15-year-olds.
✗Read with care: France (458) is not statistically different from Germany, Spain, United States and Portugal. Netherlands, United States and Canada did not meet the sampling standards.
Extra measures, France and OECD only
- Pupils struggling in maths (below level 2)36 % OECD 35 %
- Top performers in maths (levels 5 and 6)5 % OECD 8 %
- Score gap between the most and least advantaged pupils (maths)95 pts OECD 83 pts
- Maths in grade 8 (TIMSS)479 pts EU and OECD 507 pts
- Pupils at the advanced level in grade 83 % EU and OECD 11 %
DEPP (the French education ministry's statistics office), information note 26.40, September 2026 (PISA 2025) · DEPP, information note 24.48, December 2024 (TIMSS 2023, French grade 8)
OECD, PISA 2025
Health
7th of 14 · 83.0 years
Compares: Worked out everywhere from the year's deaths by age.
Caveat: Does not say how many of those years are spent in good health: see the next measure.
Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects (via World Bank, SP.DYN.LE00.IN). Years: 2024.
Compares: The years a newborn can expect to live in good health: the same WHO method for every country, the same year.
Caveat: A modelled estimate, published with a delay: the latest year is 2021, a Covid year.
Source: WHO, modelled estimates (WHOSIS_000002, WHO public statistics API). Years: 2021.
✓Compares: life expectancy, worked out everywhere from the year’s deaths by age, and healthy life expectancy, estimated by the WHO with one method for all.
✗Read with care: healthy life expectancy is a modelled estimate whose latest year is 2021, a Covid year.
UN 2024 · WHO 2021
Air
5th of 14 · 8.2 µg/m³
Compares: One model (satellites and stations) for every country, weighted by where people live.
Caveat: A national average: an Alpine valley or a main road can be well above it.
Source: Global Burden of Disease 2023, population-weighted exposure (via World Bank, EN.ATM.PM25.MC.M3). Years: 2023.
Reversed scale: lower is better, so the bar is flipped to keep “better” on the right.
✓Compares: one model (satellites and stations) for every country, weighted by where people live.
✗Doesn’t say: what you breathe in your street. An Alpine valley or a main road can be well above this national average.
GBD 2023
Income
6th of 14 · 49,616 PPP $
Compares: Adjusted for each country's cost of living, and counting the schooling and care provided by the state, which other households pay for themselves.
Caveat: An average per person, not a median income; the latest years are provisional.
Source: OECD, How's Life (measure 1_1, national accounts, dollars at 2023 purchasing power parity). Years: 2024 (DE, IT, NL, CA, PT: 2025 ; CH: 2023).
✓Compares: income in dollars of equal purchasing power, counting the schooling and care the state provides.
✗Doesn’t say: what an ordinary household earns. It is an average per person, not a median, and the latest years are provisional.
OECD 2024 (DE, IT, NL, CA, PT: 2025 ; CH: 2023)
Housing
5th of 14 · 10.7 %
Compares: Share of the 40% lowest-income households spending more than 40% of their income on rent or mortgage: one threshold everywhere.
Caveat: In the United States income is counted before tax, which flatters the figure a little.
Source: OECD, Affordable Housing Database (How's Life, measure 3_3). Years: 2024 (CH, US, JP: 2023 ; UK, CA: 2022 ; AU: 2021).
Reversed scale: lower is better, so the bar is flipped to keep “better” on the right.
✓Compares: one threshold everywhere, more than 40% of income going on rent or mortgage, among the 40% of households with the lowest incomes.
✗Read with care: in the United States income is counted before tax, which flatters the figure a little. Years run from 2021 to 2024, depending on the country.
OECD 2024 (CH, US, JP: 2023 ; UK, CA: 2022 ; AU: 2021)
Work
13th of 14 · 7.5 % unemployed
Compares: The International Labour Organization's definition, the same everywhere.
Caveat: Counts neither involuntary part-time work nor people who gave up looking.
Source: ILO, modelled estimates (via World Bank, SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS). Years: 2025.
Reversed scale: lower is better, so the bar is flipped to keep “better” on the right.
Compares: Usual hours reported in labour force surveys.
Caveat: Japan not published in this series.
Source: OECD, Labour Force Statistics (How's Life, measure 2_7). Years: 2025.
Reversed scale: lower is better, so the bar is flipped to keep “better” on the right.
✓Compares: unemployment as the International Labour Organization defines it, the same everywhere, and usual weekly hours reported in labour force surveys.
✗Doesn’t say: involuntary part-time work, or people who gave up looking. Japan does not publish 50-hour weeks.
ILO 2025 · OECD 2025
What doesn’t compare
5 traps
- Police-recorded crime · each country counts differently
Sexual offences recorded per 100,000 people in 2024: Sweden 201, France 141, Italy 13. Burglaries: Sweden 601, France 444, Netherlands 184. These are counting rules and habits of reporting, not levels of danger.
- Crime victim surveys · no full wave since 2005
The international crime victim survey (ICVS) has had no full wave since 2004-2005, so the countries it covered can no longer be compared that way.
- House price indices · base 100 per country, not a level
The OECD price index is set to 100 in each country: it tells a country’s trend, not how much a home costs compared with its neighbour. We compare the share of lower-income households overburdened by housing instead.
- Websites’ “crime” indices · built from visitors’ answers
They aggregate answers from visitors, who are not representative of a population, and do not date their sources country by country.
- Sunshine, climate · France alone spans several
Between Dunkirk and Perpignan, a national average says nothing about the weather where you would live.
All 14 countries, sources and method
Read on 28 October 2026
| Country | Homicidesper 100,000 | Safe at night% | Local crime% | Maths at 15points | Life expectancyyears | Healthy yearsyears | Fine particlesµg/m³ | IncomePPP $ / person | Housing% overburdened | Unemployment% | 50+ hours% of employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| France | 1.3 | 72 | 14.7 | 458 | 83.0 | 70.1 | 8.2 | 49,616 | 10.7 | 7.5 | 5.9 |
| EU average | not published | not published | 10.0 | 460 | 81.6 | not published | 11.0 | not published | not published | 5.9 | not published |
| OECD average | not published | not published | not published | 463 | 80.4 | not published | 12.0 | not published | not published | 4.9 | not published |
| Germany | 0.9 | 76 | 10.7 | 464 | 80.8 | 68.9 | 8.8 | 55,240 | 9.4 | 3.7 | 2.8 |
| United Kingdom | 1.1 | 74 | not published | 488 | 81.4 | 68.6 | 9.5 | 46,176 | 18.5 | 4.8 | 9.1 |
| Spain | 0.7 | 81 | 13.6 | 457 | 83.9 | 71.1 | 10.1 | 42,295 | 19.1 | 10.4 | 2.2 |
| Italy | 0.6 | 64 | 6.4 | 468 | 84.0 | 70.6 | 14.3 | 43,491 | 9.7 | 6.4 | 2.7 |
| Belgium | 1.1 | 72 | 12.4 | 480 | 82.3 | 69.8 | 8.4 | 50,771 | 12.6 | 5.9 | 3.8 |
| Switzerland | 0.6 | 88 | 8.5 | 499 | 84.4 | 71.2 | 8.3 | 48,940 | 16.9 | 4.9 | 5.0 |
| Netherlands | 0.7 | 82 | 16.7 | 483 | 82.0 | 70.0 | 8.6 | 53,163 | 7.5 | 3.9 | 1.8 |
| United States | 5.8 | 74 | not published | 463 | 78.9 | 63.9 | 7.0 | 65,479 | 29.3 | 4.2 | 8.9 |
| Canada | 2.0 | 75 | not published | 485 | 82.1 | 69.8 | 6.5 | 44,161 | 23.8 | 6.9 | 3.1 |
| Japan | 0.2 | 78 | not published | 525 | 84.0 | 73.4 | 11.4 | 36,881 | 25.9 | 2.5 | not published |
| Portugal | 0.7 | 79 | 6.9 | 460 | 82.4 | 69.5 | 8.8 | 38,464 | 27.5 | 6.2 | 6.5 |
| Ireland | 0.7 | 74 | 9.6 | 480 | 83.0 | 70.0 | 7.5 | 44,283 | 7.7 | 4.6 | 3.9 |
| Australia | 0.8 | 66 | not published | 478 | 83.0 | 70.6 | 6.4 | 50,629 | 13.8 | 4.1 | 9.7 |
| France’s place | 12th of 14 | 11th of 14 | 8th of 9 | 13th of 14 | 7th of 14 | 6th of 14 | 5th of 14 | 6th of 14 | 5th of 14 | 13th of 14 | 9th of 13 |
Sources and years
- Homicides: UNODC (via World Bank, VC.IHR.PSRC.P5), updated 8 Oct 2026 · 2023 (UK, BE: 2021 ; PT: 2022) · source
- Feel safe walking alone at night: Gallup World Poll, 2023-2025 average (OECD, How's Life, measure 10_2) · 2025 · source
- Crime or vandalism in the area: Eurostat, EU-SILC survey (ilc_mddw03), 2023 · 2023 · source
- Maths at age 15 (PISA): OECD, PISA 2025 (published 8 September 2026), table reproduced by Ireland's national centre (ERC, table 5.1) and by Singapore's Ministry of Education; France and OECD confirmed by the DEPP (NI 26.40) · 2025 · source
- Life expectancy at birth: United Nations, World Population Prospects (via World Bank, SP.DYN.LE00.IN) · 2024 · source
- Healthy life expectancy: WHO, modelled estimates (WHOSIS_000002, WHO public statistics API) · 2021 · source
- Fine particles (PM2.5) breathed: Global Burden of Disease 2023, population-weighted exposure (via World Bank, EN.ATM.PM25.MC.M3) · 2023 · source
- Household disposable income, incl. public services: OECD, How's Life (measure 1_1, national accounts, dollars at 2023 purchasing power parity) · 2024 (DE, IT, NL, CA, PT: 2025 ; CH: 2023) · source
- Lower-income households overburdened by housing: OECD, Affordable Housing Database (How's Life, measure 3_3) · 2024 (CH, US, JP: 2023 ; UK, CA: 2022 ; AU: 2021) · source
- Unemployment: ILO, modelled estimates (via World Bank, SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS) · 2025 · source
- Employees working 50+ hours a week: OECD, Labour Force Statistics (How's Life, measure 2_7) · 2025 · source
What we calculate
The place of France (“9th of 14”) counts the countries that publish the measure; tied values share a rank.
The ★ mark is the EU average when the source publishes one, otherwise the OECD average, otherwise the median of the countries shown (the only figure of this page that we work out ourselves).
“About the same” is said only when the two values print identically, when the PISA gap is not significant at 95% given the published standard errors, or, for feeling safe at night, when the gap is under 3 points (the margin of a survey of about 3,000 answers).
A country that does not publish a measure shows “not published”: we never fill a gap with an estimate.