William Atkins
Monday, 01 September 2008 00:36
Science -
Health
Page 2 of 3
Primarily, Inglehart and his team asked everyone two simple questions: (1)
“Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, not at all happy?" and (2)
"All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?”.
Based on these two questions, Inglehart and his colleagues developed an
“index of subjective well-being that reflects both happiness and general life satisfaction.” [University of Michigan]
The found that people increased in their level of happiness in 45 of those 52 countries over the 25-year period from 1981 to 2007, while happiness sank in seven of those countries.
In addition, the August 27, 2008 New Scientist article (subscription required) “
Why the world is a happier place” states
“The WVS team's analysis shows that economic growth only boosts happiness noticeably in countries with per-capita GDP less than $12,000.”
In the past five years, according to the New Scientist, University of Michigan, and BBC News articles, the countries of
Canada, Columbia, Denmark, El Salvador, Iceland, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela (in alphabetical order) are among the top ten countries in happiness. (Break out the “Won’t Worry, Be Happy” buttons.)
Please note that, first, the BBC News article “Nigeria tops happiness survey” states that Nigeria is the happiest country in the world, and Romania is the least happy. Second, the University of Michigan article states that,
“Denmark is the happiest nation in the world and Zimbabwe the unhappiest.” And, third, a
chart (subscription required) on the New Scientist website indicates that Mexico is the happiest and Taiwan is the least happy.
Author’s note: There seems to be a discrepancy here (between the three articles), so I have opted to just state the top ten countries in happiness and the lowest five countries in happiness (or top unhappiness countries) in the world.
In addition, all three articles seem to be stating that according to this survey, the people in Latin America, Western Europe and North America are “generally” happier than their counterparts in Eastern Europe and Russia.
However, during these five years the happiness of the citizens of Columbia, Denmark, Nigeria, and Puerto Rico citizens has remained steady.
Also, over those five years, happiness in the following countries—Ukraine, Slovenia, Brazil, and India—have increased the most in happiness.
The most unhappy people are found (in alphabetical order) to be in the countries of
Armenia, Georgia, Romania, Russia, and Zimbabwe. (Better send them over some of those "Don't Worry, Be Happy" buttons.)
The people in New Zealand were ranked 15th in the world in the study, while citizens of the United States were ranked 16th, Australia 20th, and Great Britain 24th.
Page three adds perspectives from the New Scientist article and the University of Michigan article.
