World Happiness Report

[Chlidonias]

Feeling grumpy about where your country placed in the world's most corrupt?
How Corrupt Is Your Country?

Well, now the World Happiness Report 2018 is out to make you feel ... well, probably the same. I suspect the most corrupt countries are also the least happy. Someone else can compare the lists.

World Happiness Report 2018 (report is linked on the right of the page).

Top ten of the world's happiest countries for those who dwell within them, are:

1) Finland
2) Norway
3) Denmark
4) Iceland
5) Switzerland
6) Netherlands
7) Canada
8) New Zealand
9) Sweden
10) Australia

The USA and UK are numbers 18 and 19 respectively.

The list goes all the way down to poor old Burundi at number 156.

 

[DavidBrown]

I'm not sure how reliable this data is. The top four countries are ice cubes. The residents of those countries probably have smiles permanently frozen on their faces. It may not be actual happiness that is being measured, but rather frostbite masquerading as happiness.

 

[Hix]

I'm not sure how reliable this data is. The top four countries are ice cubes. The residents of those countries probably have smiles permanently frozen on their faces. It may not be actual happiness that is being measured, but rather frostbite masquerading as happiness.

The top four countries all make and consume Aquavit (or Akvavit). That's why they're so happy.



Hix

 

[agnmeln]

My guess would be that a lot of this probably relates to work life balance - do the countries ranked the highest possibly have some of the shortest working weeks and some of the highest average salaries?

 

[LaughingDove]

The Nordic countries tend to come high up in a lot of positive lists like these (happiness, low crime, gender equality, health, etc.). Data measuring something as intangible and subjective as happiness will always be a bit dodgy, but there must be some truth to this.

My semi-educated guess is that this is largely due to low inequality levels and socialist-style policies in terms of income distribution and welfare/services provided by the government. There are obviously numerous holes associated with that hypothesis, but I think those sorts of things are certainly a factor.

 

[agnmeln]

My semi-educated guess is that this is largely due to low inequality levels and socialist-style policies in terms of income distribution and welfare/services provided by the government. There are obviously numerous holes associated with that hypothesis, but I think those sorts of things are certainly a factor.

Well, if somebody would distribute some additional income my way, I would definitely tick the happy box!

 

[Chlidonias]

My guess would be that a lot of this probably relates to work life balance - do the countries ranked the highest possibly have some of the shortest working weeks and some of the highest average salaries?

The Nordic countries tend to come high up in a lot of positive lists like these (happiness, low crime, gender equality, health, etc.). Data measuring something as intangible and subjective as happiness will always be a bit dodgy, but there must be some truth to this.

My semi-educated guess is that this is largely due to low inequality levels and socialist-style policies in terms of income distribution and welfare/services provided by the government. There are obviously numerous holes associated with that hypothesis, but I think those sorts of things are certainly a factor.

There is a whole report available to read on the link I gave, which means that one doesn't need to guess on how the results were made. It's actually really interesting to read through.

 

[agnmeln]

There is a whole report available to read on the link I gave, which means that one doesn't need to guess on how the results were made. It's actually really interesting to read through.

Yes. Certainly interesting to read that their chosen key variables are income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity.

 

[Ned]

So they didn't ask anyone how happy they felt?
I recently read through a number of papers about subjective wellbeing (SWB) and the general view seemed to be that once above poverty level, income showed no correlation with SWB. The key correlates were autonomy, competence, and relationships so judging happiness on income and even life expectancy is a little flawed. Good to see they included social support, trust and freedom though.

 

[agnmeln]

So they didn't ask anyone how happy they felt?
I recently read through a number of papers about subjective wellbeing (SWB) and the general view seemed to be that once above poverty level, income showed no correlation with SWB. The key correlates were autonomy, competence, and relationships so judging happiness on income and even life expectancy is a little flawed. Good to see they included social support, trust and freedom though.

That’s exceptionally surprising to me! You can generally measure my happiness entirely on when I last went on holiday, when I last splurged on a shopping spree and when I last had any cosmetic work done. First world problems! Hashtag shallow! My entire life just revolves around my income, and for me, money definitely buys happiness.

 

[Welsh Zootographer]

I'm happy when I'm warm and eating.

 

[Ned]

That’s exceptionally surprising to me! You can generally measure my happiness entirely on when I last went on holiday, when I last splurged on a shopping spree and when I last had any cosmetic work done. First world problems! Hashtag shallow! My entire life just revolves around my income, and for me, money definitely buys happiness.

My interest in SWB came about when I was pondering the West's obsession with the economy. Our desire for economic growth means we rely on people buying more stuff. We also need an ever expanding population so there's more people to buy stuff. All this buying stuff is wrecking the planet but ironically most research that I have read suggest the more materialistic you are the more likely you are to be depressed, isolated, addicted and miserable. It's unfortunate that we are wrecking the planet in order to make ourselves sad.

 

[agnmeln]

My interest in SWB came about when I was pondering the West's obsession with the economy. Our desire for economic growth means we rely on people buying more stuff. We also need an ever expanding population so there's more people to buy stuff. All this buying stuff is wrecking the planet but ironically most research that I have read suggest the more materialistic you are the more likely you are to be depressed, isolated, addicted and miserable. It's unfortunate that we are wrecking the planet in order to make ourselves sad.

That’s an insane thought! I can’t imagine that having more money to enjoy myself would ever make me sad.

 

[Ned]

Having more money wouldn't necessarily make you sad, wanting more stuff might. The issue is that always wanting more means you're likely to be dissatisfied with what you have and so you have to earn more to buy more.You have to invest more time in earning money to pay for the stuff you want, as a consequence you might be neglecting relationships with friends and family and relationships seem to be important when it comes to well-being (people who have good relationships tend to feel more secure in life as they believe that in times of need, they will have people around to support them).
You might also neglect you're health, sitting in an office environment all day doing a stressful job isn't conducive to a health body and mind. However, this does depend on your job and how much you enjoy it, many people, though, hate their job.You may also feel a loss of autonomy, if you have to have something, by definition you no longer have a choice. if you can't afford all the things you believe you need to be happy or to feel successful, you inevitably feel as if you're failing, you lose the feeling of competence, the sense that you're good at something and can look after yourself.
Non of this necessarily mean that high earners are less happy but it does mean that lower earners can be just as happy if they have good relationships, a sense of autonomy and competence. in other words looking at how much people earn as a measure of happiness is flawed.

 

[Giant Panda]

That’s an insane thought! I can’t imagine that having more money to enjoy myself would ever make me sad.

As @Ned points out, there's no link between wealth and happiness, at least after the first few months. A famous study (cited below) found that lottery winners and victims of paralyzing accidents ultimately return to baseline. This is known as hedonic adaptation.

From the little I know about it, subjective wellbeing measures longer term affect than happiness, which is a short-term emotional response triggered by particular stimuli (like your shopping trips or holidays). The trick, really, is to be content with what you have. This is easier said than done, of course.

Brickman, P., Coates, D., & Janoff-Bulman, R. (1978). Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative?. Journal of personality and social psychology, 36(8), 917.

 

[TheEthiopianWolf03]

Well I’m not surprised about Ethiopia’s very low happiness. The majority hates the government which I presume leads to the low happiness in the country.

 

[agnmeln]

Having more money wouldn't necessarily make you sad, wanting more stuff might. The issue is that always wanting more means you're likely to be dissatisfied with what you have and so you have to earn more to buy more.You have to invest more time in earning money to pay for the stuff you want, as a consequence you might be neglecting relationships with friends and family and relationships seem to be important when it comes to well-being (people who have good relationships tend to feel more secure in life as they believe that in times of need, they will have people around to support them).
You might also neglect you're health, sitting in an office environment all day doing a stressful job isn't conducive to a health body and mind. However, this does depend on your job and how much you enjoy it, many people, though, hate their job.You may also feel a loss of autonomy, if you have to have something, by definition you no longer have a choice. if you can't afford all the things you believe you need to be happy or to feel successful, you inevitably feel as if you're failing, you lose the feeling of competence, the sense that you're good at something and can look after yourself.
Non of this necessarily mean that high earners are less happy but it does mean that lower earners can be just as happy if they have good relationships, a sense of autonomy and competence. in other words looking at how much people earn as a measure of happiness is flawed.

As @Ned points out, there's no link between wealth and happiness, at least after the first few months. A famous study (cited below) found that lottery winners and victims of paralyzing accidents ultimately return to baseline. This is known as hedonic adaptation.

From the little I know about it, subjective wellbeing measures longer term affect than happiness, which is a short-term emotional response triggered by particular stimuli (like your shopping trips or holidays). The trick, really, is to be content with what you have. This is easier said than done, of course.

Brickman, P., Coates, D., & Janoff-Bulman, R. (1978). Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative?. Journal of personality and social psychology, 36(8), 917.

Very interesting concepts! I really think I have an amazing life already considering my background, but I do think it’s just part of human nature to always want more. I mean, I wouldn’t settle for a £47,000 job if I could get a £67,000 job. I am hugely ambitious. For me, stretching and challenging myself is a normal part of life. It makes me feel like I always have something to strive for. But I definitely think that a lottery win would help me to achieve more fulfilment in life, anyway! The amount of money I could donate to charity to make a difference to important causes, use to buy myself complete financial freedom (and become fully self sufficient) and to open up new opportunities such as travelling the world to discover new places is a massively happy concept to me. As somebody who doesn’t like humans and so places no value on relationships with people, and who has struggled with health issues for almost all of my life, perhaps I have quite unique priorities compared to most people! I’ve always looked at it that I’m here for a good time, not for a long time !