Societies At A Glance

If you click on the title, you'll be taken to a wealth of information about societal trends in the industrialized world. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development just released its updated “Society at a Glance” report, which provides an overview of social and policy trends in its member countries. Among other things, the report looks at leisure time reported in time-use surveys around the globe, and the researchers found that there are significant differences in the amount of time men and women have for leisure. In 15 of the 18 O.E.C.D. countries — including the United States — men have more time for leisure than women. Americans also spend more time sleeping than every other O.E.C.D. country except France. Interestingly, the French spend the most time of every O.E.C.D. country eating and drinking, and yet the French have the sixth lowest obesity rate. Perhaps fast food really is the problem.