I found a link to an article (Forbes) with the full table of results here.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and conjecture that cultural expectations and taboos plays a big part in these results.
First of all, the Swedes are either drunk, or lying, or both. They ain't that happy. They drink a lot. They claim the Finn's drink even more. They only drink at night... except that for most of the winter, night is most of the day...
In the Scandinavian countries generally, the expectation is you're s'posed to be "thriving", not "struggling". Everyone's happy, right? Right?
Now look at Japan. Very affluent (even now, after nearly two "lost decades" of low economic growth) - per capita GDP is comparable to Scandinavia. Same kind of relatively uniform national ethnicity (with notable exceptions in Scandinavia, yes) and soft-core socialist collectivism in national politics.
But see how far down the list Japan is! Why? It's considered pretty rude to be happy in Japan. You're not supposed to thrive, you're supposed to struggle. It's an entire nation of emo goth people, with better hair and makeup.
And China? Forget it. You do not, repeat NOT, tell happy fun pollster who walks up to you with a clipboard that are "thriving". They were obviously sent by the gods, to test your arrogance, and if you claim to be thriving, then the gods will see to it that you get some rocks in your path. So the correct answer is "struggling".
I think Canada and Israel are both countries where it is OK to be thriving, and in fact something of a cultural expectation. So the results make sense to me in that regard.
The same has historically been true in America, but there are a couple differences lately. The first is that it's more socially acceptable to be whiny these days. The second is that things are genuinely very tough right now (on a _relative_ basis), given how many people have been out of work so long. The social and economic landscape is depressing. So the numbers sag.
Of course there are other factors besides the ones I've mentioned and I don't discount them.
But attitude is commonly accepted to be self-re-enforcing: where it's expected and encouraged to be happy - and acceptable to be happy - hey, you're more likely to really be happy.
Finally I'll note that Iraq comes in ahead of India and Afghanistan comes in ahead of China. From this one can conclude... not much.
Wow. People who stand for what is right are happy and those who are corrupt and want to spread death and misery are, well, miserable. Imagine that!
ReplyDeleteFor some reason the link won't open for me. Drat.
ReplyDeleteI found a link to an article (Forbes) with the full table of results here.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to go out on a limb here and conjecture that cultural expectations and taboos plays a big part in these results.
First of all, the Swedes are either drunk, or lying, or both. They ain't that happy. They drink a lot. They claim the Finn's drink even more. They only drink at night... except that for most of the winter, night is most of the day...
In the Scandinavian countries generally, the expectation is you're s'posed to be "thriving", not "struggling". Everyone's happy, right? Right?
Now look at Japan. Very affluent (even now, after nearly two "lost decades" of low economic growth) - per capita GDP is comparable to Scandinavia. Same kind of relatively uniform national ethnicity (with notable exceptions in Scandinavia, yes) and soft-core socialist collectivism in national politics.
But see how far down the list Japan is! Why? It's considered pretty rude to be happy in Japan. You're not supposed to thrive, you're supposed to struggle. It's an entire nation of emo goth people, with better hair and makeup.
And China? Forget it. You do not, repeat NOT, tell happy fun pollster who walks up to you with a clipboard that are "thriving". They were obviously sent by the gods, to test your arrogance, and if you claim to be thriving, then the gods will see to it that you get some rocks in your path. So the correct answer is "struggling".
I think Canada and Israel are both countries where it is OK to be thriving, and in fact something of a cultural expectation. So the results make sense to me in that regard.
The same has historically been true in America, but there are a couple differences lately. The first is that it's more socially acceptable to be whiny these days. The second is that things are genuinely very tough right now (on a _relative_ basis), given how many people have been out of work so long. The social and economic landscape is depressing. So the numbers sag.
Of course there are other factors besides the ones I've mentioned and I don't discount them.
But attitude is commonly accepted to be self-re-enforcing: where it's expected and encouraged to be happy - and acceptable to be happy - hey, you're more likely to really be happy.
Finally I'll note that Iraq comes in ahead of India and Afghanistan comes in ahead of China. From this one can conclude... not much.