Happiest country in the world

[Prophet Zacharia]

Finland.

Quote

For the fourth year running, Finland has come out on top in the annual list powered by data from the Gallup World Poll, with Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland, and the Netherlands following in second, third, fourth and fifth position respectively.

While the United States moved up from 18th to 14th place and the United Kingdom dropped from 13th to 18th, Australia held its 12th place position.

Discus.

[Ralphie ★]

Iceland has to be like Portland, just reveling in their weirdness.

That’s all I got.

 

[Parr8hed]

I think the US is pretty happy.  Ever been to Key West?  Lots of very happy people.  

[Ralphie ★]

4 minutes ago, Parr8hed said:

I think the US is pretty happy.  Ever been to Key West?  Lots of very happy people.  

It does seem counterintuitive that it is cold and not warm places. 

[donkpow]

31 minutes ago, Philander Seabury said:

It does seem counterintuitive that it is cold and not warm places. 

But it's a dry cold.

[Parsnip Totin Jack ★]

42 minutes ago, Parr8hed said:

I think the US is pretty happy.  Ever been to Key West?  Lots of very happy people.  

You’re confusing “drunk” with “happy”. Not all drunks are happy.

[Dirtyhip]

Better social programs, and more care for it's citizens.  I am not surprised at this revelation at all at the Finland ranking.  

[Razors Edge ★]

6 hours ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Discus.

What separates 1st from 20th? A huge amount or a small relatively tiny amount?

Finland strikes me as a place to visit but not to live due to the relative tough winters.  With a large extended family and a lifelong set of friends in a town where I was born and raised, it might be "fun" to be there year round due to a sense of extended community, but without that - say as an expat moving there - it would be super tough.

As a naturally "happy" person, I could be happy most places, but I know a lot of folks who see naturally unhappy, and I am not sure if that is a cultural or biological thing.

[shootingstar]

7 hours ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Finland.

Discus.

I read a book by a Finn that describes cultural general behaviours and attitudes in Finland. They do have a good quality of life ...and yes their health care system is similar to Denmark, etc.  

1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

What separates 1st from 20th? A huge amount or a small relatively tiny amount?

Finland strikes me as a place to visit but not to live due to the relative tough winters.  With a large extended family and a lifelong set of friends in a town where I was born and raised, it might be "fun" to be there year round due to a sense of extended community, but without that - say as an expat moving there - it would be super tough.

As a naturally "happy" person, I could be happy most places, but I know a lot of folks who see naturally unhappy, and I am not sure if that is a cultural or biological thing.

I would agree that long winters and land of the midnight sun (or close to it), would be hard to take unless one is born /lived there all their lives. Since I don't live super far from mountain resort towns, I personally just would find it tough to wait long for spring slush snow and ice to go away to even go hiking without mud.  The snow and ice thing becomes more acute barrier as you get older, just walking around for over an hr.  

However, maybe Finland doesn't get a super amount of snow.

Yea, Switzerland the tax haven. Unless one is rich, as a visible minority, I wouldn't want to be in a tiny country like Switzerland. 

 

[Zephyr]

8 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

as a visible minority, I wouldn't want to be in a tiny country like Switzerland. 

This is an interesting statement and something I never thought of before.  Can you explain further?

[jsharr ★]

1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

What separates 1st from 20th? A huge amount or a small relatively tiny amount?

Finland strikes me as a place to visit but not to live due to the relative tough winters.  With a large extended family and a lifelong set of friends in a town where I was born and raised, it might be "fun" to be there year round due to a sense of extended community, but without that - say as an expat moving there - it would be super tough.

As a naturally "happy" person, I could be happy most places, but I know a lot of folks who see naturally unhappy, and I am not sure if that is a cultural or biological thing.

The metrics for 2020 can be found in that wiki.  7.8 for #1 and 6.9 for United States, so over 12% difference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report#2020_World_Happiness_Report

[Parr8hed]

2 hours ago, Old No. 7 said:

You’re confusing “drunk” with “happy”. Not all drunks are happy.

very true

[Razors Edge ★]

12 minutes ago, jsharr said:

The metrics for 2020 can be found in that wiki.  7.8 for #1 and 6.9 for United States, so over 12% difference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report#2020_World_Happiness_Report

Got it. 

What doesn't make sense is the "freedom to make life choices" - on the left is the overall rank, on the right is sorted by highest "life choices", and I call BS on that one.  NO WAY are some of those countries high on a scale of freedom for life choices. 

[shootingstar]

50 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

This is an interesting statement and something I never thought of before.  Can you explain further?

I didn't hear 100% positive comments from a Canadian (German descent) who lived and worked there for 7 years. She worked for the Canadian embassy. She was aware of situations of abuse to Filipino domestic workers. At the time, a certain light snobbery. As I said, one needs to have money to be inside the social circles.  

Sure Switzerland would be nice to visit and spend 1-2 years.  For me. After while I might feel claustrophobic in lovely place. For sure, it's probably high quality living in terms of services.  

When I was in Europe, I was in some picturesque German towns, where I wondered what it would be like to LIVE there for many years.  For sure, to speak the language...and to have a job that wasn't just in the service industry. Dearie and I have discussed it over the years just what locals are truly like.  He thinks Germans with  German family members for centuries (he came from such a family, no mixing from other countries) just have polite but deeply ingrained, lightly snobbish attitudes about those who are workers, but not citizens.  

Despite the anti-Asian sentiment that's been rising over past 18 months in Canada and reported across the Internet/news, complete with videos, photos I still rather be in CAnada for what it offers in standard of living, support and for dynamic, multicultural society.  We work continuously with deal such crap and overt programs in workplaces, schools, etc. We fail in certain areas, but keep trying.  That's what I mean:  we keep trying.

 

 

[Zealot]

4 hours ago, Philander Seabury said:

It does seem counterintuitive that it is cold and not warm places. 

I’m in agreement with the cold places being happiest. 😊 

[MickinMD ★]

Similarly, the "2021 World Happiness Report" reported by ABC also has Finland #1 and The top 10 countries are Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Austria.

It was the fourth consecutive year that Finland came out on top. The United States, which was at No. 13 five years ago, slipped from 18th to 19th place. On a shortened list ranking only those countries surveyed [some countries were ranked on estimates from past data], the U.S. placed 14th.

Some idiot in California says the USA is low because "American culture prizes signs of wealth such as big houses and multiple cars more so than other countries, “and material things don’t make us as happy.”"  An in-touch-with-reality explanation came from the Brookings Institution: “The U.S. has larger gaps in happiness rankings between the rich and the poor than do most other wealthy countries.”

[Razors Edge ★]

1 minute ago, MickinMD said:

Some idiot in California says the USA is low because "American culture prizes signs of wealth such as big houses and multiple cars more so than other countries, “and material things don’t make us as happy.”"

THAT IS NOT WHAT I SAID!

[Prophet Zacharia]

2 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

Got it. 

What doesn't make sense is the "freedom to make life choices" - on the left is the overall rank, on the right is sorted by highest "life choices", and I call BS on that one.  NO WAY are some of those countries high on a scale of freedom for life choices. 

I am disappointed to not see the triskelion’s of Sicily represented here.

[Razors Edge ★]

Just now, Prophet Zacharia said:

I am disappointed to not see the triskelion’s of Sicily represented here.

At #23 below Malta!  JUST MISSED IT!