British professor publishes study of global happiness
Andre Hillenbrand (NumberOne)
Published 2006-08-02 06:38 (KST) 230 years after John Locke and Adam Smith guaranteed the American people the right to the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence, a global study of happiness has finally appeared.
Conducted by Adrian White, a psychologist at the University of Leicester, U.K., the study has resulted in a world map of happiness. The British psychologist analysed data published by the CIA, UNESCO, the WHO and several other organizations measuring data from over 80,000 people worldwide.
And the winner is... Denmark.
World's Happiest Nations
1) Denmark
2) Switzerland
3) Austria
4) Iceland
5) Bahamas
6) Finland
7) Sweeden
8) Bhutan
9) Brunei Darussalam
10)Canada
This comes as quite a surprise for most people, since the country in northern Europe is widely known for its high suicide rate. The other Scandinavian countries, score very well, too, though they all have a relatively mild climate and long winters.
Canada also hosts a significant 10th place, though the country suffers from the same phenomenon as the Scandinavian countries. All in all, the inhabitants of countries with a cold climate are surprisingly very happy.
But there is one big exception: Russia. It comes in at 167 and is thus one of the world's unhappiest nations.
So what about the United States, the country, where the pursuit of happiness is written into the constitution? Americans can consider themselves very happy people, too. The world's most powerful country ranks 23rd of the 178 countries listed in the survey. Moreover, other studies found that Republicans are generally happier than Democrats.
Another surprise: The notoriously "depressive" Germans are the world's 35th happiest people, though they steadily head in their holidays to Italy, partly because of the kind and happy Italians, who as a matter of fact rank only 50th on the list, which is still relatively high.
The home-country of Adrian White, Great Britain hosts a good 41st place.
Capitalism can also be seen as a reliable factor of happiness. Communist countries, such as China (82nd), Cuba (83rd) and Russia rank poorly.
Moreover, according to the British study, Asian countries are generally among the least happy nations. Japan is only in 90th place. You might explain this because most Japanese people work long hours and often live in big polluted cities.
Looking at the map you can also see that the rich continents, Northern America, Europe and Australia (26th) are usually happy.
They are closely followed by the less rich, but much sultrier inhabitants of South America. Sadly, the world's poorest continent, Africa, is also the world's least happy.
©2006 OhmyNews
by Andre Hillenbrand
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