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global happiness

Monday,  03/20/23  07:18 PM

The indispensible Visual Capitalist today have given us:

I don't know all the details but I do know their measure of "happiness" was as perceived by the people in each country.  It may mean different things in different cultures!  In some, being "happy" may not be as important as others, and in some, it may be more relative than others.  But anyway it is a common concept, and an interesting measure.

I've mentioned before, I think happiness comes from liking yourself.  Maybe if someone was asking about your happiness for a survey about your country, you would answer based on whether you like the country as a whole, not sure.  But in some sense happiness is relative to your own expectations.

Does anything surprise you here?  My biggest takeaway is continents: Seems like the ranking is:

  1. Oceana (Australia + NZ)
  2. North America
  3. Europe
  4. South America
  5. Asia
  6. Africa

I'm also surprised that India - the largest country by population - isn't happier.  I think of it as a happy place, but clearly its people do not.  China is the second largest country, not happy, but that's not surprising.  Next in size are the US (happy), Indonesia (not happy), Brazil (kind of happy), and Nigeria (not happy).  Lots of work to do.

Comments?