Gross domestic product, income and wealth were not everything, Mr Eslake noted at a recent GRDC Farm Business Update in Launceston.

Tasmania had the nation’s highest home ownership rate at 6.8 per cent above the national average in 2013-14, Mr Eslake’s presentation showed.

Its level of housing stress (households spending more than 30 per cent of gross income on housing) was the lowest in the nation in 2013-14 and 5.6 per cent less than the national rate.

Tasmanians’ commuting times averaged 1.1 hours less per week than the national average in 2011, while Tasmanians were more likely than  Australians in total  to meet family or friends outside the home once or more per week in 2014.

On the down side, Tasmanians had life expectancy 20 months less than the nation from 2012-14.

The state had a 3.6 per cent bigger proportion of smokers than the nation in 2014-15.

In the same year, the proportion of Tasmanians with mental or behavioural difficulties was 3.3 per cent more than the national rate and the highest in the country.

Tasmania also had the highest proportions of obesity (4.4 per cent more than the nation) and people with high blood pressure (5.4 per cent more than the nation) in 2014-15.

The state’s suicide rate per 100,000 people was 2.3 per cent above the national rate in 2014.