[Which version do you choose to believe?] The Happiest (and Saddest) Countries in the World
INSPIRATIONAL, 21 Jan 2013
Christopher Helman, Forbes – TRANSCEND Media Service
The Legatum Prosperity Index is based on a study of 142 countries comprising 96% of global population. Nations are analyzed and ranked on 89 indicators in 8 categories such as education, government and economics. Per capita GDP — basically how rich a nation is — is a factor in the index, but the whole point of the Legatum study is to look beyond such a simple measure at all the myriad issues that make up wellbeing and prosperity.
In general, the most prosperous (thus “happiest” in my book) countries enjoy stable political institutions, a strong civil society with freedom of expression, good education and healthcare, personal freedom and a feeling of being safe and secure.
Under those measures the U.S. is getting less happy.
U.S. unemployment remains stubbornly high and start-up costs are rising, while high-tech exports are in decline. As Nathan Gamester, project director of the index, explains:
“Even within the realm of economic health, broader measures can illuminate the drivers of change and serve as leading indicators. Take, for example, citizens’ perceptions of job markets. In India and China, the percentages of citizens who think that it is a good time to find a job is 40% and 36%, respectively. In the U.S. and U.K., those percentages are, respectively, 26% and 12%.”
So who are the happiest people in the world, as measured by Legatum? Norway takes the crown, followed by Denmark and Sweden (which leapfrogged Australia and New Zealand this year). Rounding out the Scandinavians is Finland, just a few steps behind in the seventh spot.
Luxembourg is the healthiest nation on Earth. Iceland is the safest. Switzerland has the world’s best economy and governance, according to Legatum.
What’s Norway got that the rest of the world doesn’t? For one thing, a stunning per capita GDP of $57,000 a year. Norwegians have the second-highest level of satisfaction with their standards of living: 95% say they are satisfied with the freedom to choose the direction of their lives; an unparalleled 74% say other people can be trusted. It sure doesn’t hurt that the massive Norwegian welfare state is bankrolled by high taxes and big reserves of offshore oil and gas.
On the other side of the spectrum, the lowest ranking, or saddest country on the Prosperity Index, is the Central African Republic. There the per capita GDP is $790 per year, life expectancy is 48, and just 2% of people have internet access at home. Right behind the CAR at the bottom are Congo, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Haiti.
Though the good people at the Legatum Group (founded by New Zealand billionaire Christopher Chandler) are certainly making a good faith effort toward figuring out the key traits of successful societies, there are some areas where their data is unreliable.
Many of the inputs for the Index come from surveys of citizens in the countries. This is problematic because opinion polls are inherently subjective, and because of cultural and educational differences people in different countries may have starkly varying takes on the same circumstance.
For instance, one of the inputs for Legatum’s economic prosperity measure reflects whether citizens of a country “have confidence in financial institutions.” Last year only 48% of Americans reported being confident in financial institutions, versus 61% worldwide. It cannot be the case that America’s banks are less secure than the global average. And it’s silly to rely on subjective opinion for such a thing when there’s plentiful objective data on bank health (see Forbes Rankings of America’s Best and Worst Banks.)
The measurement of “social capital” is problematic as well, as one of the inputs reflects the percentage of citizens who “attended a place of worship” in the past week. I agree that many people glean a lot of social cohesion by going to church, temple or mosque, but there’s also plenty of folks who get the same sense of peace from going to yoga class on the beach or a walk in the woods.
That said, the Legatum survey does a better job of measuring true “happiness” than some of the similar surveys out there.
The Gallup organization did a recent survey seeking to determine which country had the happiest people by going out to 148 countries and asking thousands of people questions such as:
“Did you feel well-rested yesterday? Were you treated with respect all day yesterday? Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday? Did you learn or do something interesting yesterday?”
I don’t know about you, but that kind of data gathering is way too subjective for me.
According to Gallup’s findings, the happiest people in the world live in Panama and Paraguay, followed by El Salvador and Venezuela, then Trinidad and Tobago, Thailand, Guatemala, the Philippines, Ecuador and Costa Rica.
Of course there’s a lot of cultural bias represented in Gallup’s study. As Thailand is known as “The Land of A Thousand Smiles,” is it really any surprise that the Thais would say they had smiled a lot yesterday?
Among the saddest, according to Gallup’s survey, are the citizens of war-torn regions like Iraq and Afghanistan and Yemen as well as the likes of Lithuania, Belarus, Serbia, Georgia and Armenia.
Could it be that some people are just more prone to be dour? ”Feeling unhappy is part of the national mentality here,” said Agaron Adibekian, an Armenian sociologist interviewed recently by the Associated Press. “Armenians like being mournful; there have been so many upheavals in the nation’s history. The Americans keep their smiles on and avoid sharing their problems with others. And the Armenians feel ashamed about being successful.”
But the most unhappy people according to Gallup’s questionnaire, are the citizens of Singapore.
This is kind of shocking, considering that Singapore ranked 19th overall on Legatum’s index, and 3rd highest on worldwide economic measures. If anyone should be happy it’s Singapore.
And yet Richard Low, a 33-year-old Singaporean businessman told the AP: “We work like dogs and get paid peanuts. There’s hardly any time for holidays or just to relax in general because you’re always thinking ahead: when the next deadline or meeting is. There is hardly a fair sense of work-life balance here.”
So Singaporeans are prosperous but unhappy? Overworked, but comfortable? What would you rather be?
It all makes me think of British philosopher John Stuart Mill, who described the social theory of utilitarianism, which holds that one must always act so as to produce the greatest aggregate happiness for the greatest number of people. Mill recognized however that what constitutes happiness (and its lesser cousin contentment) is completely subjective, and depends on who you ask.
Said Mill: “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question.”
The World’s Happiest Countries:
1. Norway
2. Denmark
3. Sweden
4. Australia
5. New Zealand
6. Canada
7. Finland
8. The Netherlands
9. Switzerland
10. Ireland
Full List: The Happiest And Saddest Countries In The World
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