WHAT IS HAPPINESS?

Froma Harrop had a recent op-ed entitled, Some countries are happier than others--or are they?  Essentially, she said, Finland is the world's happiest country--fourth year in a row!  At least, according to the World Happiness Report from the United Nations.  The U.S. ranked 14th in the latest, but here is a compilation from 2018-2020, where we are shown at #19:

Apparently, this UN report did not ask anyone how they felt about the weather.  How can you be happy when the worst day in London, every day, is like Finland everyday?  One February I went to Helsinki and experienced something that was stunning.  Well-covered with gloves, hat and neck wrap, I walked outside my hotel on a sunny day and instantaneously my nose froze.  The ground was really slippery with ice.  I told myself the next time I come here I would wear a motorcycle helmet  (in case you fall) with face covering pre-treated for fog breath.  Maybe golf shoes with real spikes.  But then, you can't walk indoors with them.  Well anyway, college is free, their educational system is outstanding and they are said to have the best saunas.

Who produced this report?  Columbia University with help from Canada and the UK, with Gallup.  What they did was interview 350,000 people in 95 countries.  One question asked was, Did you smile a lot yesterday? 

To summarize:

• New Zealand at #9 was the only non-European country.  Australia was #11.  
• This Nordic nation of 5.5 million people did well in the pandemic with 70,000 cases and 805 deaths.
• The Worldometer table I use showed 85,077 cases and 163 deaths/million people
• Hawaii, the state with the lowest deaths/million people in the United States, had 336 deaths/million people
• U.S.  1757 deaths/million people
• World  396
• Sweden  1369
• Denmark  425
• Norway  135
• Japan  77
• South Korea  35
• China  3
• Thailand  2
• 
  Measures including social support, personal freedom, gross domestic product (GDP) and levels of corruption were used in the study.
• The country deemed the most unhappy in the world was Afghanistan, followed by Lesotho, Botswana, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. 
• China improved from #94 to #84.
• Click here for all the information you would want.

There have been other such studies, as the one from Harvard in 2014 concluding that the five happiest cities in the USA are in Louisiana:  Lafayette, Houma, Shreveport-Bossier City, Baton Rouge and Alexandria.  I lived in Baton Rouge for several years.  I've been to all those cities.  While Cajun culture and concomitant joy, combined with local food festivals and music, with ample high-paying job opportunities are attractions, why do people come to Hawaii rather than those happy spots?

Since 2008 Bhutan has used a Gross National Happiness Index as the measure of success.  Well, the reality is that the government talks about happiness while continuing ethnic cleansing measures and committing human right abuses.  In 2019 Bhutan ranked 95th out of 156 countries.

Seattle, Washington has a Gross National Index to assess the well-being of the population, and you will remember that, with Portland, it was among the worst racial riot cities in the nation last year.  Vermont uses something similar to gauge success.

The Philippines talks about Gross National Happiness, then elects President Rodrigo Duterte, who went ahead and killed up to 6000 drug suspects and arrested a quarter million people.  The UN condemned him.  The country ranks #61 in the World Happiness Report.

With a responsible government, Japan is at #56.  A military junta now runs Thailand.  It's #54.  Singapore has been stuck at around #32 for years.  South Korea, the country of high efficiency?  #62.

Others:

• Russia  76
• China  84
• Turkey 104
• Iran 118
• Egypt 132
• Afghanistan 149

North Korea?  Not mentioned.  However, a decade ago they came up with a Global Happiness Index and showed that China was #1, North Korea #2, and followed by Cuba, Iran and Venezuela.  South Korea was #152 and USA at the bottom.

Finally, Wallethub ranked the 50 states by happiness in 2020 and selected Hawaii as #1.  Metrics included emotional and physical well-being, work environment and community environment.  Utah came in at #2.  Least happy?  Senator Joe Manchin's state, West Virginia.

In any case, Don't Worry Be Happy.  That was a third of  century ago.  Here are some Happy Pop Songs to make you smile.  Or Ten Songs to make you always smile.  Too new for you?  These take you back a half century.

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