Originally published at: This is the happiest country in the world | Boing Boing
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levels of GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom and corruption
None of those are measures of happiness.
Neither is self-reporting of well-being btw. At least not when comparing different cultures with different expectations of not only happiness but also what to answer on such a survey.
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Finland has a much lower suicide rate than the United States. This implies that people are at least happy that their government addresses mental health.
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the happiest country in the world is still Finland!
Thanks, I’m still kicking myself for not jumping ship I was on [41 years ago] and staying there forevers. I had what I can only describe as a wonderful fun filled 2 weeks there while our ship was being repaired.
Dang it!
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I guess that “happy” doesn’t necessarily mean “good”. The Finns could be perfectly happy while bathing in the blood of their foes.
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Ask any Russian, they did not fare/fair [sp] well in the many wars & battles with the Finns.
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True. However, measurement of happiness is complex and has been controversial wherever it has been applied. See for example:
There’s certainly no easy way to make comparisons between nations, and especially between cultural groups. However, I think it’s really important that we try, because existing measures of progress (e.g. GDP) are truly hopeless at capturing what matters to people.
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Those sun lamps must be more effective than I thought.
I really love this measure and how it cuts through to the important things in life. GDP per capita plays a role, but more important contributors are combinations of social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and a lack of corruption. The comparison with the mythical country of “Dystopia”, where the values for each of the other valuables are the lowest observed in the survey, is also interesting.
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I’m happy Right Now!
@gracchus I’d say the overwhelming supply of EMPATHY towards others is a factor. I noticed it right off, it was nice change of pace from just coming from Russia or as it was then USSR.
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Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. But how you gonna quantify it?
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I’m quantifying my happiness Right Now!
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Yes, yes, of course. But are you quantifying it enough to beat the Finns?
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Just off the phone with the Finns, they say I’m good on the happiness meter, almost off the charts, Right Now…
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Finland has it all.
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I think Palin had lots of fun singing it!
1:15 always gets to me.
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I think low income inequality, a good safety net, legal certainty and equal treatment to all go a long way to give a baseline happiness to a country. Living in the global No 4, these are all things that I cherish, much more than low taxes or the ability to bribe my way through life.
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If ignorance is bliss, the good ol’ USofA should be number one.
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Only if everybody’s ignorant about the same things.
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Kick off your Karhus and celebrate by watching The Match Factory Girl while chomping on some Halva licorice washed down with Sahti
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