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The World's Happiest Countries 2010: Back to Back victory for Denmark ??

Time to post one of my favourite thread of the year which leads to read some nice interesting conversations...the World's Happiest Countries.
So is Denmark still the happiest country ? Let's find out !

Quote:

In the wake of their World Cup loss, residents of the Netherlands may be feeling depressed. But there's reason to believe they won't be done in by the agony of defeat: According to a recent poll, the country is one of the happiest in the world.

Championship-winning Spain, on the other hand, was swept with euphoria and national pride, but that may have been an unfamiliar feeling. The country ranks No. 17 of 21 European countries in terms of happiness.

The fact is good times probably have more to do with the size of your wallet than the size of your trophy shelf.
The five happiest countries in the world--Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands--are all clustered in the same region, and all enjoy high levels of prosperity.

"The Scandinavian countries do really well," says Jim Harter, a chief scientist at Gallup, which developed the poll. "One theory why is that they have their basic needs taken care of to a higher degree than other countries. When we look at all the data, those basic needs explain the relationship between income and well-being."

This study analyzes basically only declared satisfaction, which "The Happy Planet" did years ago, but combining it along with life expectancy + ecological footprint. Those three things were combined,....

Behind the Numbers
Quantifying happiness isn't an easy task. Researchers at the Gallup World Poll went about it by surveying thousands of respondents in 155 countries, between 2005 and 2009, in order to measure two types of well-being.

First they asked subjects to reflect on their overall satisfaction with their lives, and ranked their answers using a "life evaluation" score between 1 and 10. Then they asked questions about how each subject had felt the previous day. Those answers allowed researchers to score their "daily experiences"--things like whether they felt well-rested, respected, free of pain and intellectually engaged.

Subjects that reported high scores were considered "thriving." The percentage of thriving individuals in each country determined our rankings. For a complete list of countries surveyed, including the percentages thriving and their daily happiness scores, click here.

Money Matters
The Gallup researchers found evidence of what many have long suspected: money does buy happiness--at least a certain kind of it. In a related report, they studied the reasons why countries with high gross domestic products won out for well-being, and found an association between life satisfaction and income.

So to make it clear, here is the ranking, by continent:

Europe:
1.Denmark. Overall World's Happiest Country.
2. Finland.
3. Norway

Europe ranked as World's Happiest Continent.

Americas:
1.Costa Rica.
2.Canada.
3.Panama.

Africa:
1.Malawi.
2.Libya.
3.Botswana.

Asia:
1. New Zealand.
2.Israel.
3.Australia.

Source.

Costa Rica?

Any clue where Ireland came?

They all seemed pretty happy in New Zealand. They didn't need an excuse for a piss up and a barbie :D

I think this is retarded poll. No offense, i'm being serious. retarded people are happier. All the retarded people i've ever seen have had a huge smile on their face, and they seem pretty happy to me.

I think this is a list of the most RETARDED countries, not the happiest.

Think of the smartest people you've ever met....do they grin like idiots and espouse their happiness?? no. Retarded people jump around with giant smiles and try to hug everyone cause they are so full of joy.

this is retarded. IMHO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iceman (Post 3802032)

Costa Rica?

Any clue where Ireland came?

Not at all, they just published the first 3.

I'm very surprised at Costa Rica too but when you read about the country and the social life, it's not that surprising. Such a little and unknown country.

Not surprised either by New Zealand: it breathes, smells and lives happiness.

A bit shocked about Africa, I really expected South Africa to be there.

and the individual US states should be judged individually. how can you judge the US as a whole??? Denmark is smaller than most US states.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostalex (Post 3802128)

Ok...

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostalex (Post 3802128)

No it is not. It is published every year by the very, very serious business magazine Forbes.
The list is not being made based on the amount of smile on people's face but on serious sociological criteria such as:
Health
Family life
Community life
Material well being
Political stability and security
Climate and geography
Job security
Political freedom
Gender equality

It is very serious.

If i was poor and lazy, i'd be pretty happy to live in denmark too... cause i don't have to work! so basically this is a list of who treats bums the best?

i think the whole thing is rediculous. you cannot measure happiness.

I can be exstatic one day, and miserable the next.

the whole concept of measuring "happiness" is riCOCKulous. look it up in the cocktionary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostalex (Post 3802169)

You really do get nothing do you ? It is an average combined score of a country as a whole. And by the way, Denmark doesn't have a high rate of unemployment, so no, you won't be lazy for long.

Stop crying because your country didn't make it on there, the Danes are laughing at you.

hmmm, let's compare the number of Danes applying for US citizenship to the number of Americans applying for Danish citizenship... LOL

hmmmmmmmm

I'm just saying you can't measure happiness, imo.

just my opinion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostalex (Post 3802192)

I'm just saying you can't measure happiness, imo.

just my opinion.

Of course it is your opinion yet it doesn't measure up with strong, serious, sociological analyses that have been done for years and have been pretty much accurate when we compare them to an economic basis.

Interesting. Looking at the source now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostalex (Post 3802187)

hmmm, let's compare the number of Danes applying for US citizenship to the number of Americans applying for Danish citizenship... LOL

hmmmmmmmm

That's only cos most Americans have never heard of Denmark:joker:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain.Remy (Post 3802310)

Oh i forgot, just because things have been done for a long time, that means they must be True... like religion right? :spin:

Things that have been done for a long time by a lot of people are NEVER wrong, right???

gimme a break.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostalex (Post 3802402)

Oh i forgot, just because things have been done for a long time, that means they must be True... like religion right? :spin:

thing that have been done for a long time by a lot of people are NEVER wrong, right???

Yet it matches with economic data and criteria. This list is a way of showing different data, how they do work and if what the economists have predicted went right. It also helps business on a daily basis: doing business is cool, doing business in a happy place is much better for your money.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain.Remy (Post 3802414)

Well i don't think economics or the size of yur house or the level of violence per capita = happiness.

I think and hope happiness is far more complex than anything some book worm at Harvard or the UN can measure.

The happiest man on on Earth will no longer be the happiest man on Earth by the time this post shows up on the site, it will already be someone else.

Happiness is not a number.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostalex (Post 3802421)

Of course it is more complex than a list, not denying that. We cannot measure happiness properly but we can get an average score with the tools we currently have.

And economics doesn't also explain happiness fully otherwise we'd be in a bad shape right now.

Didn't we learn from stalin and hitler, that perhaps going by numbers isn't the best way? Didn't America teach the world instead that everyone should be treated as individuals, not as "herds" or "masses" or "statistics".

Individuality is the only truth. Generalities are bu!!sh!t.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostalex (Post 3802445)

America taught us all that did it? get over yourself

Quote:

Originally Posted by Niamhxo (Post 3802451)

America taught us all that did it? get over yourself

You're welcome. :blush: