“There may be benefits to evaluating non-economic makers of a country’s success, but not all researchers agree that happiness looks the same around the world.”

— Science News, April 20, 2024

###

It’s official. We’re now ranked the 23rd happiest country in the world, down from 15th last year. Predictably (it usually is) Finland still ranks No. 1, followed (also predictably) by those blond-and-blue-eyed, swimming-in-ice-water-is-good-for-you, Nordic nations: Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Norway. They’re all in the top ten (along with Israel, Netherlands, Norway and Luxembourg). The United States now ranks below Slovenia (21) and United Arab Emirates (22); but above Germany (24) and Mexico (25). Last in the 143 rankings is, unsurprisingly, Afghanistan.

Sez who? The 2024 World Happiness Report, issued last March 20 (United Nations International Day of Happiness). It’s a partnership of Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the WHR’s Editorial Board. There’s much more to the report than a simple ranking of countries, however, and it’s a fun read here. Particularly if you’re (how to put this delicately?) old: This year’s report focuses on the happiness of people at different points in their lives, especially the latter stages.

From the website: “The World Happiness Report reflects a worldwide demand for more attention to happiness and well-being as criteria for government policy. It reviews the state of happiness in the world today and shows how the science of happiness explains personal and national variations in happiness.”

A couple of caveats are in order, lest you think I’m too naïve for words. First, of course, is, Who decides who’s happy and who’s not? Well, you do, that is, it’s all based on respondent’s self-assessments. You’re asked which rung of the ladder you’re on, the bottommost rung (0) being “your worst possible life” and the topmost (10) “the best possible life for you.” Many non-Western cultures consider that you’ll jinx your life if you’re happy and you say so, thus depressing scores on the test. (Does anyone really say, “10”?) Second, happiness is such a vague term, especially to non-Westerners, who may think that happiness isn’t the best measure of a life well-lived. Other criteria of well-being might be peace and harmony; or having meaning in one’s life; or working to help your children have a better life than yours. A Canadian study a few years ago found that, for many cultures, having a calm life was more meaningful than being happy.

Another take on this comes from Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence (subsequently slightly amended by the “Committee of Five): “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” When I first read that (while preparing for my citizenship exam), I found it odd that Life and Liberty were given full measure, but that Happiness was qualified: the pursuit thereof.

Now, I’m all for setting goals in life, both realistic (10,000 steps a day) and possibly unrealistic (dying with more countries visited than my age — currently 82 for 81). But why water down Happiness? Do we only have the right to pursue happiness, but not to happiness itself? For that matter, I’ll bet that you and I might have trouble agreeing on what actually constitutes happiness. Is bliss (I’ll know it when I feel it!) happiness? Feeling good in the moment (I like how that sentence turned out)? Anticipation (I can’t wait to see you tomorrow!)? Contentment, that is, long term-happiness, with the usual daily and weekly ups and downs?

One thing I know is that, if I’m actually asked whether I’m happy, I’ll feel defensive, or boastful, or irritated, or embarrassed — anything other than happy. More like unhappy. I just hope I’m never asked to respond to someone from the World Happiness Report holding a clipboard.