The OECD claim that Britain now ranks above Germany on a number of quality of life measures took at least one German expatriate by surprise. Susann Schmiede's first reaction was to laugh.

"It's really surprising, I can't believe it," she said. Schmiede is office manager for the German Deli, which sells Westphalian pumpernickel loaves and Thuringer bratwurst sausages online and at Borough market in London.

Now 30, she studied business administration at university in Leipzig before coming to England, where she has lived on and off for five and a half years. Schmiede said it was love that brought her back to London rather than the quality of life. "My boyfriend lives here and that's the reason I'm staying."

She likes the capital for its parks, the convenience of the Oyster transport payment card and the many varieties of food. Her favourite British delicacy is vegetarian shepherd's pie, and while Indian cuisine on the continent cannot hold a candle to the curry houses near her home in Mile End, she says Germans enjoy many other advantages over the British.

"Germans always think that their standard of life is not that good, but when I go home and people complain I say: 'but you go to the doctor and you see someone straight away, you don't have to wait until the GP gives you an appointment'."

She puts her native country's comparatively low survey ranking down to a national tendency to believe life is harder than it might seem to an outsider. But for Schmiede, healthcare, housing and work-life balance are all better back home.

"People in Germany have more living space - renting is really expensive here. And I have 20 days of holiday plus bank holidays. Usually in Germany you start with 34 days when you are an apprentice. My sister has 36 days because she is a single mum, so she gets more in case her kid gets sick. You don't have that luxury in the UK."