• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

The World's Happiest Countries

Catz, i have read many of your posts. and i have come to love you. but if you are in the 10% bracket and still struggling it wouldn't matter if you were in the 5% and so on. you need to seriously look at how you are spending your money because if you don't you never will have enough when the situation demands it. you have a child and i am certain that your child is the most luckiest to have you a beautiful women as his mother.

Ah, I misspoke:

As of 2005, the latest data released by the US government, one would have to earn over $100,000 to be included the top 10% of wage earners in the US.

To be in the top 1%, one would have to make more than $348,000.

Apparently, I'm in the top 20%. Of course, that's based on individual earnings, not household earnings. My per household earnings put me in a lower category because it's just my income, not a dual income family.

Still...I earn more than 80% of the people in the U.S.

Part of the stressful part right now is that I'm paying for my children's college bills in advance, and I got a 15 year mortgage when I bought my house. In another 5 years, I won't be struggling at all, my mortgage will be paid off, and my daughter will be most of the way through college. In comparison to my counterparts in the neighborhood, I have almost no debt.

I'm actually in good financial shape, relatively speaking, I just chose to put myself in a position to get to zero debt way faster than the average American. So, for instance, I drive a 2001 Camry and don't have a lot of excess spending money.
 
Last edited:
Ah, I misspoke:



Apparently, I'm in the top 20%. Of course, that's based on individual earnings, not household earnings. My per household earnings put me in a lower category because it's just my income, not a dual income family.

Still...I earn more than 80% of the people in the U.S.

Part of the stressful part right now is that I'm paying for my children's college bills in advance, and I got a 15 year mortgage when I bought my house. In another 5 years, I won't be struggling at all, my mortgage will be paid off, and my daughter will be most of the way through college. In comparison to my counterparts in the neighborhood, I have almost no debt.

I'm actually in good financial shape, relatively speaking, I just chose to put myself in a position to get to zero debt way faster than the average American. So, for instance, I drive a 2001 Camry and don't have a lot of excess spending money.
see you are a smart and beautiful women;)
 
Here's another way of looking at it: rate of serious bi-polar and depressive illness. Cases of affluenza?

How Depressed Is Your Country? - Forbes.com

All I can say is that a lot of people around here(The U.S.) think that material wealth will bring you happiness.
Which isn't true, so when you buy all those material things and are still not satisfied, it can bring about depression.

I think it's kinda unfair to compare all the countries of Europe and a lot of the world when population sizes are largely different.
That alone can skew any result you may get.

Honestly though, people aren't supposed to be happy 24/7, things are supposed to make us unhappy.
That is how change occurs, how things are made better.
 
Australia's a continent too, and it's happier.

Australia is largely a homogeneous nation.
Sure you have your people of African decent and Aborigines but they represent a tiny portion of your population.

Race and ethnic distribution can have an effect on feelings of over all happiness.
 
Last edited:
Australia is largely a homogeneous nation.
Sure you have your people of African decent and Aborigines but they represent a tiny portion of your population.

Race and ethnicity distribution can have an effect on feelings of over all happiness.

race is probably one of the bigger issues actually, mostly we're just apathetic about everything.
 
Denmark, Finland and Norway have a very small population, while the USA are a continent. I'm sure there are areas in the USA where "happiness" is as high as in Finland or Denmark.

Australia's a continent too, and it's happier.

I think both of you need to go and look at a globe again, and study the North American continent a bit better. It has more then just the US in it. Canada, Mexico and the various central American countries are there as well
 
I think both of you need to go and look at a globe again, and study the North American continent a bit better. It has more then just the US in it. Canada, Mexico and the various central American countries are there as well

i was aware of that, i just couldn't be bothered mentioning it.
 
race is probably one of the bigger issues actually, mostly we're just apathetic about everything.

Well look at from a statistical distribution standpoint.

I think Aborigines make up around 3% of your population.
So even if they are miserable (0 on the scale), if would hardly have any effect on the statistical outcome.

I think any country with a sizable minority population will have a lesser happiness score for that reason alone.
 
Catz Part Deux said:
What if work was just work, and we could spend more hours in our day enjoying life, and fewer hours feeling like we have to claw our way to the top of the rat race?
That was the philosophy I had.

I liked my job, I enjoyed my job, I was dedicated to it and performed it at the very best of my ability and in turn I was rewarded quite handsomely for doing so. Win - Win.

With that being said, my family and I were the higher priority. I was involved with my kids lives in most everything they did, school, after school activities, summer activities, vacations, etc. They turned out to be pretty good adults in spite of their parents...lol...j/k. I got more pleasure, enjoyment and the feeling of achievement out of the things I did with my family than anything I ever accomplished at 'work'.

There were a few times where I had to put 'work' above family activities, but in 30 years I could count the number of times on one hand. I simply prioritized my life and 'work' wasn't at the top of the list - it was important but it wasn't everything. I retired at a young age (I'm not even eligible for SS yet and I've been retired for quite some time) and never looked back. I see some of the people I worked with from time to time and the conversation usually turns to wondering what is going on with the company these days. Not me, it's somebody's else's worry now, not mine.
 
bub said:
...while the USA are a continent.
spud_meister said:
Australia's a continent too, and it's happier.
Did you guys go to school with Sarah Palin?




spud_meister said:
i was aware of that, i just couldn't be bothered mentioning it.
NOW you tell me what she really meant...LOL...:lol:
 
I think both of you need to go and look at a globe again, and study the North American continent a bit better. It has more then just the US in it. Canada, Mexico and the various central American countries are there as well

I think bub was making a comparison on size and population distribution.


Yea the U.S. isn't the only country on the continent but we might as well be. :2razz:
Canada = America's hat.
Mexico = America's beard.
 
Well look at from a statistical distribution standpoint.

I think Aborigines make up around 3% of your population.
So even if they are miserable (0 on the scale), if would hardly have any effect on the statistical outcome.

I think any country with a sizable minority population will have a lesser happiness score for that reason alone.

fair enough.
 
Understand though, that I'm not trying to make excuses.
There are plenty of things we could do to make our population happier but depending on what the expense would be, it kinda worthless for me.

yeah, us happier countries tend to have a bigger government, and i know how much you'd like that :mrgreen:

from my observations, i think what makes America a less happy country, is that, as a people, you are very concerned about everything, religion, politics etc. it's all a big deal in America, and it's these things people would say make them unhappy, it's probably also why your country has such a strong economy, but here in Australia, no really gives a **** about which party is in power outside of election time.

(sorry for my rambling, i can't sleep, so i'm in thinking mode(which doesn't happen very often:mrgreen:))
 
yeah, us happier countries tend to have a bigger government, and i know how much you'd like that :mrgreen:

from my observations, i think what makes America a less happy country, is that, as a people, you are very concerned about everything, religion, politics etc. it's all a big deal in America, and it's these things people would say make them unhappy, it's probably also why your country has such a strong economy, but here in Australia, no really gives a **** about which party is in power outside of election time.

(sorry for my rambling, i can't sleep, so i'm in thinking mode(which doesn't happen very often:mrgreen:))

It's all good and you're right.

I notice I'm most unhappy when I think about debates I haven't finished here while at work.
It's fun to debate here, as long as there is a conclusion.

Some of the **** people discuss in public is wrong, in my opinion.
We're all hung up on public religiousness and just about everything.
I don't give a crap what religion someone is (except scientology, it's a cult) but that seems more the exception than the rule.
 
Australia's a continent too, and it's happier.

Yeah but how many Australians are there? 15 millions? 20 millions? There are 300 millions americans, and I guess that there are rich areas near Washington or NY with 10 or 15 millions inhabitants who are as happy as the average Australian.
 
I think both of you need to go and look at a globe again, and study the North American continent a bit better. It has more then just the US in it. Canada, Mexico and the various central American countries are there as well

I was just saying that with over 300 millions inhabitants, it would be more clever to compare the USA to the EU than the USA to Denmark.
 
As for happiness, I think there are several factors explaining it, even if I believe there is no way to measure it precizely and make rankings of happy countries.

First, there are basic needs: people need to have food, water, and they must be healthy. That's why all of the third world is at the bottom of the list.

Then, you need security. That's why all the countries at war are also at the bottom of the list.

Then, you need some freedom. You can remove all the dictatorships from the top of the list, even if people are in security and if they are not starving, like in Saudi Arabia.

Then, when you have food, security and freedom, you have to find the good mix between wealth (work: everyone must be able to find a job and that job must bring a reasonable income, and there musn't be too much social disparities) and leisure (with a good quality of life and environment).

I think the Scandinavian countries score so high because unemployment is very low, there aren't a lot of social disparities (that's easier when you have an homogeneous society), and they live in a healthy environment.

I think the USA score less because, even if Americans are richer on average, there are huge disparities (there are some extremely rich Americans, but there are also extremely poor Americans, while in most Europeans societies, richs are only moderately rich and poors are moderately poor, thanks to our social security system). That may be explained because there are many minorities in the USA, and when there are big minorities it is more difficult to establish wealth redistribution (Danish are generous with their unemployed people because everyone there is Danish; they would be less generous if half of their jobless people were Africans).

Another difference IMO is that people in Europe feel quite secure, while in the USA there seems to be a paranoia about terrorist attacks since 2001.
 
I was just saying that with over 300 millions inhabitants, it would be more clever to compare the USA to the EU than the USA to Denmark.

The Population density of Denmark is 90 per square mile and in the USA it's 83 per square mille. They could be a fair comparison in this regard.
 
As for happiness, I think there are several factors explaining it, even if I believe there is no way to measure it precizely and make rankings of happy countries.

First, there are basic needs: people need to have food, water, and they must be healthy. That's why all of the third world is at the bottom of the list.

Then, you need security. That's why all the countries at war are also at the bottom of the list.

Then, you need some freedom. You can remove all the dictatorships from the top of the list, even if people are in security and if they are not starving, like in Saudi Arabia.

Then, when you have food, security and freedom, you have to find the good mix between wealth (work: everyone must be able to find a job and that job must bring a reasonable income, and there musn't be too much social disparities) and leisure (with a good quality of life and environment).

I think the Scandinavian countries score so high because unemployment is very low, there aren't a lot of social disparities (that's easier when you have an homogeneous society), and they live in a healthy environment.

I think the USA score less because, even if Americans are richer on average, there are huge disparities (there are some extremely rich Americans, but there are also extremely poor Americans, while in most Europeans societies, richs are only moderately rich and poors are moderately poor, thanks to our social security system). That may be explained because there are many minorities in the USA, and when there are big minorities it is more difficult to establish wealth redistribution (Danish are generous with their unemployed people because everyone there is Danish; they would be less generous if half of their jobless people were Africans).

Another difference IMO is that people in Europe feel quite secure, while in the USA there seems to be a paranoia about terrorist attacks since 2001.

Pretty much this.

I may disagree slightly on the racial reasoning but yea.
 
Oh oops, I took the population density for an island owned by Denmark.

Ok, but Denmark has a much higher population density. I think that negates claims that America has too many people to be as happy as those small countries, unless the basis of that claim is something that hasn't crossed my mind.

It's not that America has to many people, it's the statistical sampling size between two nations.

A group with a higher population will, generally, have a lower score than a smaller more homogeneous group.
 
The Population density of Denmark is 90 per square mile and in the USA it's 83 per square mille. They could be a fair comparison in this regard.

The point is that with a population that is 50 times larger, you can expect more diversity. In the USA, there are areas (around Detroit maybe) as big and as populated as Denmark, where people have a very low income and where unemployment is 20 or even 30%. But there are also areas (maybe around Washington) which are also as big and as populated as Denmark where people are twice richer and extremely happy.
 
Back
Top Bottom