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Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on Earth

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Nerdkiller

Membeur
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The embrace true capitalism along with strong social services.

Its possible and not a contradiction unlike the thought of some posters who think capitalism is the worse thing ever.

This. The Nordic Model is the best in the world for a reason: it embraces the strenghths of capitalism for economic productivity and it embraces the strengths of social democracy as a political system with egalitarian values in distribution of wealth and power.

The 2 are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they compliment each other amazingly, as capitalism nets you lots of resources and social democracy enables you to distribute them in a more fair manner in part as a portfolio of social services (e.g., universal healthcare, free/subsidized higher education, safety nets, etc.) after they've been initially procured via redistributive adjustments.
 
Their musicians (i.e. Seigmen) put out some of the most melancholic music on Earth.

From The Third Man..

Orson Wells said:
in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
 

Raxel

Member
I've spent some time in ålesund and brattvåg. Norwegians don't show happiness on their faces, it's carefully expressed internally.

Edit - I do love those freia påskeeggs though.
 

SamVimes

Member
While I love the nordic countries we shouldn't forget that they have really high suicide rates compared to the rest of Europe, especially Finland.
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
This is their definition of happiness.

No. They looked at those factors to try and explain how why particular countries had differing happiness levels; but those factors weren't considered happiness in and of themselves. Happiness was considered as follows:

Our analysis of the levels, changes, and determinants of happiness among and within nations continues to be based chiefly on individual life evaluations, roughly 1,000 per year in each of more than 150 countries, as measured by answers to the Cantril ladder question: “Please imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?” We will, as usual, present the average life evaluation scores for each country, based on averages from surveys cover- ing the most recent three-year period, in this report including 2014-2016.
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Money buys happiness up to a point - when you're living in abject poverty, increasing the money you have increases your life satisfaction quite quickly. At high levels of income, though, more money has almost no impact. However, societal inequality does make people unhappy - even richer people in more unequal societies are more unhappy than richer people in more equal societies. This is probably because of the nature of the Cantril ladder question used. It asks you to place yourself on a scale from 0 to 10, where 10 is you at your happiest in life. There's obviously no objective means by which anyone could describe their happiest in life, since you've probably never experienced it. Instead, we set our 10 by two references - our happiest period in life to date, and by the standards of those around us who seem to have be happier and more secure than we do ("keeping up with the Joneses"). This means relative societal position has a big impact in how happy people are, to the point that less wealthy but more equal countries regularly support higher life satisfaction.

Taking social support as a rough proxy for equality, you can see that of all the factors the UN analysed, it had far the biggest impact on happiness. It was twice as important as having the freedom to make your own choices, for example - which might explain some of Trump's success. Having a strongman who makes sure your jobs come back probably would be better for your happiness! (assuming the jobs actually do come back, which is... doubtful).
 
No. They looked at those factors to try and explain how why particular countries had differing happiness levels; but those factors weren't considered happiness in and of themselves. Happiness was considered as follows:

Oh, I see. I stand corrected.

Explain Japan, explain Mexico. They should switch positions going by this logic, lol.

Hong Kong is also at #71, below Libya at #68, so yeah, there's factors that go into it. Looking at the report "social support" is almost as big of a factor as GDP per capita.
 

Strax

Member
Schattenjäger;232422499 said:
Based on their echo chamber and their standard of happiness is different from other countries

This book does a good deal speaking about the subject

9781250081568.jpg

I read this last year and the chapters about Iceland are 70-80% bs.

Make of that what you will.
 

Nivash

Member
While I love the nordic countries we shouldn't forget that they have really high suicide rates compared to the rest of Europe, especially Finland.

Not really true, at least not anymore. With the exception of Finland, the Nordics are about average. Finland is somewhat above average. The real outliers are the Mediterranean nations (which have surprisingly low numbers) and the Eastern European nations (who have disturbingly high numbers)

suicides-europe.jpg
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Hong Kong is also at #71, below Libya at #68, so yeah, there's factors that go into it. Looking at the report "social support" is almost as big of a factor as GDP per capita.

Not 'almost' - it has six times more effect!
 
I'm sure many factors are involved in making these lists but... nah

Categories:
Explained by: GDP per capita
Explained by: Social support
Explained by: Healthy life expectancy
Explained by: Freedom to make life choices
Explained by: Generosity
Explained by: Perceptions of corruption
Dystopia (1.85) + residual

Country Happiness score
  1. Norway 7.537
  2. Denmark 7.522
  3. Iceland 7.504
  4. Switzerland 7.494
  5. Finland 7.469
  6. Netherlands 7.377
  7. Canada 7.316
  8. New Zealand 7.314
  9. Sweden 7.284
  10. Australia 7.284
  11. Israel 7.213
  12. Costa Rica 7.079
  13. Austria 7.006
  14. United States 6.993
  15. Ireland 6.977
  16. Germany 6.951
  17. Belgium 6.891
  18. Luxembourg 6.863
  19. United Kingdom 6.714
  20. Chile 6.652
  21. United Arab Emirates 6.648
  22. Brazil 6.635
  23. Czech Republic 6.609
  24. Argentina 6.599
  25. Mexico 6.578
  26. Singapore 6.572
  27. Malta 6.527
  28. Uruguay 6.454
  29. Guatemala 6.454
  30. Panama 6.452
  31. France 6.442
  32. Thailand 6.424
  33. Taiwan 6.422
  34. Spain 6.403
  35. Qatar 6.375
  36. Colombia 6.357
  37. Saudi Arabia 6.344
  38. Trinidad and Tobago 6.168
  39. Kuwait 6.105
  40. Slovakia 6.098
  41. Bahrain 6.087
  42. Malaysia 6.084
  43. Nicaragua 6.071
  44. Ecuador 6.008
  45. El Salvador 6.003
  46. Poland 5.973
  47. Uzbekistan 5.971
  48. Italy 5.964
  49. Russia 5.963
  50. Belize 5.956
  51. Japan 5.920
  52. Lithuania 5.902
  53. Algeria 5.872
  54. Latvia 5.850
  55. Moldova 5.838
  56. South Korea 5.838
  57. Romania 5.825
  58. Bolivia 5.823
  59. Turkmenistan 5.822
  60. Kazakhstan 5.819
  61. North Cyprus 5.810
  62. Slovenia 5.758
  63. Peru 5.715
  64. Mauritius 5.629
  65. Cyprus 5.621
  66. Estonia 5.611
  67. Belarus 5.569
  68. Libya 5.525
  69. Turkey 5.500
  70. Paraguay 5.493
  71. Hong Kong 5.472
  72. Philippines 5.430
  73. Serbia 5.395
  74. Jordan 5.336
  75. Hungary 5.324
  76. Jamaica 5.311
  77. Croatia 5.293
  78. Kosovo 5.279
  79. China 5.273
  80. Pakistan 5.269
  81. Indonesia 5.262
  82. Venezuela 5.250
  83. Montenegro 5.237
  84. Morocco 5.235
  85. Azerbaijan 5.234
  86. Dominican Republic 5.230
  87. Greece 5.227
  88. Lebanon 5.225
  89. Portugal 5.195
  90. Bosnia and Herzegovina 5.182
  91. Honduras 5.181
  92. Macedonia 5.175
  93. Somalia 5.151
  94. Vietnam 5.074
  95. Nigeria 5.074
  96. Tajikistan 5.041
  97. Bhutan 5.011
  98. Kyrgyzstan 5.004
  99. Nepal 4.962
  100. Mongolia 4.955

Moved to Singapore last year... I guess I'm in general a happy person but maybe as an outsider I can also just appreciate a life in the tropics with basically western European standards yet super low crime rates and no natural catastrophes. It's literally carefree living. Plus food, higher payment and lots of attractions and convenient travel opportunities.


As the article states, it's subjective perceived happiness but it kinda seems that some populations are just more ignorant to their problems?
I mean, there are some countries high up in that list that I would be wary to visit even as a tourist. Not to mention the human rights problems but I guess MOST people will be happy (and a few are very, very unhappy).
edit: factors are actually more objective than the headline makes it sound like. But obviously stuff that doesn't tell the full picture in some cases.


Also surprised Germany is so high :D We are world champions in complaining on a high level without appreciating the good life quality. ok seems the list has nothing to do with that sort of stuff
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Well done my crazy (but happy) Nordic friends. Just back from a few nights out in Copenhagen - terrific fun. Hoping to get back to Norway/Sweden later this year.

If you stop by Oslo, send me a PM. Would be fun to meet some GAFfers :)

Their musicians (i.e. Seigmen) put out some of the most melancholic music on Earth.

I think you must be the first I've seen on GAF to refer to Seigmen.
 
All this does for me is confirm that money truly does by happiness.

After taxes, an American employee has about the same amount of money as a Danish citizen in a lot of professions. If you take a software developer or a doctor or a social worker, it's going to be rather similar.


Rather, I think that mandatory 6 weeks of vacation a year, 37 work week, higher minimum wage, paid maternity leave, free pension, allowance for high school and college students, free education and health care and concise rules and regulations is what makes a sizeable difference.



But I don't think you're on average more happy in Scandinavia than in the US. You got a lot of opportunity in many other places, more to do in nature, more entertainment, a car is 5-10x as inexpensive, houses are a lot more inexpensive, low taxes on many things.

Scandinavia is cold, and Denmark in particular is flat. It's a very secluded place and people are not very social. It's hard for others to come in. People are not interested in making friends. You have expats and foreign workers wo feel lonely. I think the isolation and self seclusion might be similar to Japan (but minus the overwork).


I also think that people in Scandnavia have lower expectations. In America if you're raised on the American dream, having a good life is being rich and famous and doing well. In Scandinavia we are insignificant so we shoot lower.

We have something called Jantelov which is a taboo old dogma about how you shouldn't boast, think you're shit or that you're better. It's more of a 100+ year old self-hatred paradox belief systems of that people who expect too much are bound to be disappointed.

That idea is very unpopular today, and it's used as a slur against defeatism, nancy naysayers and other people who are perceived to lower their expectations in the face of disappointment.


But we see other places around the world where people have argued for pessimism as a mans to be more happy. A tenant in Buddhism is that expectations lead to suffering. If you expect to raise a family, a house, a dog, a picket fence, a hot wife and a good job- If you expect those things growing up and its not given to you, you might end up jaded, broken and miserable.

If you have lower expectations your altruistic appreciation for things ending up better than you had imagined might make you more appreciative of your privilege, your resources and opportunities.

I think globally we're similar in many ways. I think a lot of the things that make people unhappy are related to their relationships, and personal careers. A lot of that is luck. It's highly possible that the people who live the most fulfilling life and who live in the most ideal climate are on capita more happy, but they are dragged down in these rankings because there is a large subset of people who are unhappy.
 

MANUELF

Banned
That list is full of snowy places, I doubt they can be the happiest when they cant leave their houses half a year
 

entremet

Member
This. The Nordic Model is the best in the world for a reason: it embraces the strenghths of capitalism for economic productivity and it embraces the strengths of social democracy as a political system with egalitarian values in distribution of wealth and power.

The 2 are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they compliment each other amazingly, as capitalism nets you lots of resources and social democracy enables you to distribute them in a more fair manner in part as a portfolio of social services (e.g., universal healthcare, free/subsidized higher education, safety nets, etc.) after they've been initially procured via redistributive adjustments.

Right.

The issue with the US is that first, it's huge, so distributing these funds in an equitable fashion, without the influence of monied interests is difficult.

Those monied interests could be military contractors, the ultra rich, who also run the government, private education industry, etc.
 

Sch1sm

Member
I mean, I'm not throwing shade at them but when measuring all these things like 'happiness' do they take into account if it applies to different ethnicities? I'm honestly curious.

No. They only ask one question, according to the article.

"Imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top," the question asks.
"The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?"
 
I mean, I'm not throwing shade at them but when measuring all these things like 'happiness' do they take into account if it applies to different ethnicities? I'm honestly curious.

They have a section for this in the report (happiness of natives vs. immigrants), but they only show the numbers for Gulf Arab countries. It says they will do a more detailed report on this in 2018.
 
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