valR
4 Answers
Bob/PKB
Best answer!
TIME NEWS FEED April 6, 2012
If you’re happy and you know it, you probably live in one of these countries. The U.N. has released a new list ranking countries in terms of happiness, based on Gallup polls taken from 2005-2011.
The top 5 are:
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Netherlands
Canada
There’s definitely a pattern here. Could it be free universal health care, pristine natural environs and generous paid maternity (and paternity) leave? No, it must be that these places are all kinds of cold. And Denmark wins because they have lots of sticky breakfast pastries.
So where does the U.S. place? Number 11, right below Ireland. Bhutan, which has championed the happiness index, was not included in the U.N. report.The unhappiest countries were Togo, Benin and Central African Republic.
The economists behind the U.N. report say our slavish dependence on Gross National Product (GNP) as an indicator of progress has got to stop. “GNP by itself does not promote happiness,” development economist Jeffrey Sachs told the U.N. conference, according to the Washington Post . “The U.S. has had a three time increase of GNP per capita since 1960, but the happiness needle hasn’t budged. Other countries have pursued other policies and achieved much greater gains of happiness, even at much lower levels of per capita income.”
Apparently a new patio set from Walmart just isn’t doing it for us anymore. (Unless, of course, it’s bigger than the neighbors’.)
Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/06/where-are-the-worlds-happiest-countries/#ixzz1vJ1lbMOa
| 11 years ago. Rating: 7 | |
ROMOS
The Scandinavian countries seem to be the happiest ie: Denmark, Finland,Sweden,Netherlands, Norway, I could hazard a guess WHY.
Their governments take care of their own people, and they don't involve themselves in other countries troubles too much.
Government for the people by the people!
| 11 years ago. Rating: 10 | |
Ann
I agree with Romos. They seem to be happier than any other nation.( Scandinavian countries)
| 11 years ago. Rating: 6 | |
valR
“The first 10 countries share one common characteristic: They're small in population and, except Canada and Australia, land mass. Small countries enjoy an advantage in the happiness derby. They're more likely to have homogeneous populations with fewer ethnic, religious and geographic conflicts. This minimizes one potentially large source of unhappiness. Among big countries, the United States ranks first.
The irony is that Europe, where the happiness movement is strongest, generally registers lower happiness. On the same ranking, the United Kingdom (18) is the leading large European nation, followed by Spain (22), France (23), Italy (28) and Germany (30).”
| 11 years ago. Rating: 1 | |
