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The World's Happiest Countries

The U.S. is number 14. Not bad at all.
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
Happiness is subjective.
These types of the are stupid as a means of policy change.
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It isnt something I'd base policy off of, but it still raises an interesting point: if we are the best, then why do we not reflect that?
 
I wonder how the define happiness though. I do know many of those listed have higher suicide rates (or very similar rates) to the US.
800px-Suicide_rates_map-en.svg.png

Most of the countries with socialist/communist governments have higher suicide rates. Some of those countries listed actually have relatively high suicide rates too. How does on define "happiness" ?
 
spud_meister said:
and anyway, the happiest, most fabulous place has to be Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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So it's the gayest place in the world in every sense of the word.

spud_meister said:
is it impossible for a topic about world ratings to not turn to "duuur, ameica saved ur butts in WW2"
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Is that what he meant? I thought it had more to do with their economies being so dependent on ours, the high number of products, innovations, etc. used there originating from here, etc.
 
Dav said:
Is that what he meant? I thought it had more to do with their economies being so dependent on ours, the high number of products, innovations, etc. used there originating from here, etc.
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could've been, but that dependence goes both ways, so it's not really that valid.
 
MSgt said:
The U.S. is number 14. Not bad at all.
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That's the thing, isn't it? People get completely freaked whenever the U.S. is not #1, even though 14 out of almost 200 would in most cases be a cause for celebration. I mean, look at France, for goodness sake... it's number 44. Poor Japan is listed as number 81, behind so many third-world nations. Hell, even the UK ranked behind us, at #17. These are all prosperous, industrial, Western countries that the U.S. ranks above. I'm suspicious of the ranking itself (really? Brazil and Panama tied at 12?), but before we panic about the U.S. being so much behind everyone else, maybe we should look at where we actually are... and who "everyone else" actually is.
 
spud_meister said:
could've been, but that dependence goes both ways, so it's not really that valid.
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Not really. Proportional to population, Europe is way more dependent on the U.S. than the U.S. is on Europe.
I mean, where's the British "McDonald's"? The French "Wal-Mart"? The German "Microsoft"? The Spanish "Hollywood"? I'm sure there's some relatable stuff, but it just doesn't come as close. Even Japan, I'd say, comes closer to U.S. dependency.
I mean, I guess we're dependent in that we have a market abroad. But we could shrink our market if we really needed to; in Europe's case, a lot of their stuff would just disappear/stop being made.
 
Dav said:
That's the thing, isn't it? People get completely freaked whenever the U.S. is not #1, even though 14 out of almost 200 would in most cases be a cause for celebration. I mean, look at France, for goodness sake... it's number 44. Poor Japan is listed as number 81, behind so many third-world nations. Hell, even the UK ranked behind us, at #17. These are all prosperous, industrial, Western countries that the U.S. ranks above. I'm suspicious of the ranking itself (really? Brazil and Panama tied at 12?), but before we panic about the U.S. being so much behind everyone else, maybe we should look at where we actually are... and who "everyone else" actually is.
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My comments go to addressing the rhetoric that comes from American exceptionalism. Even around here, there is constantly talk of America being the best, the brightest, and dominant when it very clearly is not. When reality and rhetoric conflict, it's only natural to turn to the source of the rhetoric and ask them to justify their talk. More often than not, the justification comes as a slew of reasons why "it doesnt really matter" or "the listing is skewed"

America and American is touted as being the best but we see that that is not always the case
 
Hoplite said:
My comments go to addressing the rhetoric that comes from American exceptionalism. Even around here, there is constantly talk of America being the best, the brightest, and dominant when it very clearly is not. When reality and rhetoric conflict, it's only natural to turn to the source of the rhetoric and ask them to justify their talk. More often than not, the justification comes as a slew of reasons why "it doesnt really matter" or "the listing is skewed"

America and American is touted as being the best but we see that that is not always the case
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Actually, I believe in American exceptionalism. I also think that this list probably doesn't really matter, as "happiness" is subjective, and it probably is at least somewhat skewed, just by looking at a lot of odd placements there.

The thing I found odd were the people who clearly do not believe in American exceptionalism, who say that the happier countries are happier than the U.S. because they are less free-market, and so to be #1 the U.S. must be less free-market... just like everyone else. Including the vast majority of countries beneath us in the rank, which themselves make up the majority of countries on the list. Or if not less free-market, something else that America does "wrong" that the nations above us do "right". It doesn't make any sense at all.
 
It's kind of funny to me that all the answers to the question are about why America isn't number 1. The bigger point to be made here is that the top rated countries, for the most part, have democratically elected socialist leaders. The question is: maybe democratic socialism works if it's kept in check with more conservative parties.

In other words, everything conservatives say about socialism is untrue. After all, there are very few countries in the world that don't have a socialist power in constant contention for the top political positions. Even Australia and Spain have socialist leaders at the top right now. That's what I take from this poll. If Americans had a more open mind about what direction to head from here, we'd move up a few slots in that rating.
 
Hoplite said:
It isnt something I'd base policy off of, but it still raises an interesting point: if we are the best, then why do we not reflect that?
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Perception, some people feel different about different things.
For the record, I don't think we have to be the best in order to be good enough.
 
Dav said:
Not really. Proportional to population, Europe is way more dependent on the U.S. than the U.S. is on Europe.
I mean, where's the British "McDonald's"? The French "Wal-Mart"? The German "Microsoft"? The Spanish "Hollywood"? I'm sure there's some relatable stuff, but it just doesn't come as close.
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You think that MacDonalds, Wal-mart (no presence in continental Europe as far as I'm aware), Microsoft (say aaargh!) and Hollywood contribute to a person's essential happiness? You think the World wouldn't get along just fine without them? You seem to confuse willingness to purchase popular products with dependency, that's not logical.
 
According to the article, money does play a role in one's happiness. But there is more to it:

But there's more to happiness than riches. The Gallup study showed that while income undoubtedly influenced happiness, it did so for a particular kind of well-being--the kind one feels when reflecting on his or her own successes and prospects for the future. Day-to-day happiness is more likely to be associated with how well one's psychological and social needs are being met, and that's harder to achieve with a paycheck.

Take Costa Rica. The sixth-happiest country in the world, and the happiest country in the Americas, it beat out richer countries like the United States. That's because social networks in Costa Rica are tight, allowing individuals to feel happy with their lot, regardless of financial success.

"Costa Rica ranks really high on social and psychological prosperity," says Harter. "It's probably things systemic to the society that make people over time develop better relationships, and put more value on relationships. Daily positive feelings rank really high there.
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Not having to worry about being taken care of when things change (i.e. health) is important, too.
 
I wonder what the medias in these countries are like. I wonder if they have alternating medias that portray as much as they can about their country in a negative light and divide its own citizens against each other.
 
Israel is tied with Australia, Canada, and Switzerland at number 8.

Pretty good company :)
 
WI Crippler said:
I wonder what the medias in these countries are like. I wonder if they have alternating medias that portray as much as they can about their country in a negative light and divide its own citizens against each other.
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at least in my country, no, the media is not where near as partisan as what i see from America, in fact, Australia is no where near as political as America, so that may contribute a lot to general happiness :mrgreen:
 
Catz Part Deux said:
Table: The World's Happiest Countries - Forbes.com

Most of us have been spoon fed the glories of capitalism and the free market since we were old enough to eat at a table. But a few years ago, I saw a study much like this one, and thought, "What if we're not getting it? What if the aquisition of wealth isn't really the way to happiness?"

In other words, if our system is so great, why are we only #14, and not not #1? Why are people in Denmark, Finland, Norway, etc. so much happier than we are?

I'm no socialist/communist. But on the other hand, I can't help but wonder if our lives might be better if more of us had a security net that protected us from having to constantly worry about something terrible happening (like getting a life-threatening illness that would push us over the edge of financially succeeding).

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?

Just food for thought...what if earning money ISN'T the be all/end all of our existence? What if we could go to work, earn a paycheck, do our best work, and know that we'd be taken care of in comfort after retirement, without constantly scrimping and saving?

Some of you are very well-off. I appreciate your hard work.

However, as a single mom, I am nearly constantly worried about how I am going to pay for all of my children's college expenses, how much money I will need to retire after doing that, and the possibility that something could happen to me that would make it impossible to work, and would leave my kids hanging off of the edge of the cliff.

I do fine professionally, I make good money and I have a great job with an excellent company. And yet, having said that, I still have to put myself in the "struggling" category. Every single month is a struggle to make ends meet and make sure my kids have the things that they need. A lot of that is because I receive very little help from my ex in taking care of the kids. I don't blame anyone for that situation except myself, and yet...it's hard.

And I'm in the top 10% of wage earners here.

I wonder...if it's that hard for me, what's it like for the other 90%? And, have these people in these other countries figured out something that we haven't about what life is really about?
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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.

when i was in denmark, the reason why people was happier was that they basically have a government state that looks for their well being. it is what the people want and enjoy. they don't care too much for spending on material goods they do not need. trust me its hard when a small coke bottle costs you 8bucks.
 
Doesn't Switzerland rival the U.S. in firearm ownership per capita?

I knew it. Happiness is a warm gun.
 
Catz Part Deux said:
Table: The World's Happiest Countries - Forbes.com

Most of us have been spoon fed the glories of capitalism and the free market since we were old enough to eat at a table. But a few years ago, I saw a study much like this one, and thought, "What if we're not getting it? What if the aquisition of wealth isn't really the way to happiness?"

In other words, if our system is so great, why are we only #14, and not not #1? Why are people in Denmark, Finland, Norway, etc. so much happier than we are?

I'm no socialist/communist. But on the other hand, I can't help but wonder if our lives might be better if more of us had a security net that protected us from having to constantly worry about something terrible happening (like getting a life-threatening illness that would push us over the edge of financially succeeding).

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?

Just food for thought...what if earning money ISN'T the be all/end all of our existence? What if we could go to work, earn a paycheck, do our best work, and know that we'd be taken care of in comfort after retirement, without constantly scrimping and saving?

Some of you are very well-off. I appreciate your hard work.

However, as a single mom, I am nearly constantly worried about how I am going to pay for all of my children's college expenses, how much money I will need to retire after doing that, and the possibility that something could happen to me that would make it impossible to work, and would leave my kids hanging off of the edge of the cliff.

I do fine professionally, I make good money and I have a great job with an excellent company. And yet, having said that, I still have to put myself in the "struggling" category. Every single month is a struggle to make ends meet and make sure my kids have the things that they need. A lot of that is because I receive very little help from my ex in taking care of the kids. I don't blame anyone for that situation except myself, and yet...it's hard.

And I'm in the top 10% of wage earners here.

I wonder...if it's that hard for me, what's it like for the other 90%? And, have these people in these other countries figured out something that we haven't about what life is really about?
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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.
 
bub said:
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.
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Australia's a continent too, and it's happier.
 
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