Statistics show we are behind almost all OECD countries

By Bronwyn Sell

Our standard of living is worse than most other developed countries, including Australia, says a new international report.

New Zealand ranks 20th out of 28 OECD countries for living standards and a large gulf separates us from the world's leading knowledge economies.

One of the smallest countries, Luxembourg, scored the highest standard of living, followed by the United States, while Turkey came last.

The statistics in the 1999 OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard plant us far behind other countries in research and development and the quality of our exports.

We spend comparatively little money on research and development and have few researchers - 35 per 10,000 workers, compared with more than 65 in Australia and an OECD average of about 55.

Our businesses are not pulling their weight in financing research and development and we were the only country with no tax write-offs in the sector.

The chief executive of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, Steve Thompson, said businesses needed to spend more money on research. Low investment led to low demand for scientists, so fewer people were taking science subjects, making the problem worse.

Mr Thompson said the Government's Five Steps Ahead package, designed to boost our knowledge economy, should improve the situation.

The report says we have the fourth-highest proportion of science and engineering graduates in our workforce, behind only Ireland, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Professor Jeffrey Hunter, head of Massey University's Institute of Information Technology and Mathematical Sciences, said the figure did not necessarily reflect a knowledge economy, since we had relatively few maths and computer graduates.

We produce a high number of scientific publications for our population, and are starting to make our mark in inventions, particularly in computers and telecommunications. We spend proportionately more than any other country on computers and telecommunications, one of the major drivers of economic growth.

Selling our technology abroad is not a strong point. Only about 30 per cent of our exports were classed as "upmarket," compared with an OECD average of 43 per cent, nearly 80 per cent in Switzerland and 60 per cent in Australia.

• Statistics New Zealand does not consider gross domestic product per capita, used in the OECD report, an accurate reflection of standards of living because it says quality of life cannot be measured solely by production.