HAPPY New Year 2008 from EU Pundit : But What is Happiness Around the Globe? Money, Culture, Social Relationships and the Science of Well-Being

We have posted previously about happiness at our blog LawPundit, including Happiness Is ... Living in the Right Country and it has been the subject of other bloggers, such as The Countess, who writes:

"... the Dalai Lama said, "I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we are all seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is toward happiness...""

If we are to believe Daniel Kahneman, via Marginal Revolution, Nobel Prize winner in Economics in 2002, writing at Edge, then there is a very strong correlation between happiness and wealth (material prosperity), quite contrary to the old saw that money will not make you happy:

"Humans everywhere, from Norway to Sierra Leone, apparently evaluate their life by a common standard of material prosperity, which changes as GDP increases. The implied conclusion, that citizens of different countries do not adapt to their level of prosperity, flies against everything we thought we knew ten years ago. We have been wrong and now we know it. I suppose this means that there is a science of well-being, even if we are not doing it very well."

Seen on a very broad scale, material prosperity is of course important to happiness. People on the brink of starvation or suffering from serious health problems are not going to be as happy as if they were healthy. This is shown by Adrian White's Satisfaction with Life Index (shown at Wikipedia):

"The concept of happiness, or satisfaction with life, is currently a major area of research in economics and psychology, most closely associated with new developments in positive psychology. It has also become a feature in the current political discourse in the UK."

International Ranking (2006)

Rank	Country	SWL	Rank	Country	SWL
1	Denmark	273.33	90	Japan	206.67
1	Switzerland	273.33	90	Yemen	206.67
3	Austria	260	92	Portugal	203.33
3	Iceland	260	93	Sri Lanka	203.33
5	The Bahamas	256.67	94	Tajikistan	203.33
6	Finland	256.67	95	Vietnam	203.33
7	Sweden	256.67	96	Iran	200
8	Bhutan	253.33	97	Comoros	196.67
9	Brunei	253.33	98	Croatia	196.67
10	Canada	253.33	99	Poland	196.67
11	Ireland	253.33	100	Cape Verde	193.33
12	Luxembourg	253.33	101	Kazakhstan	193.33
13	Costa Rica	250	102	South Korea	193.33
14	Malta	250	103	Madagascar	193.33
15	Netherlands	250	104	Bangladesh	190
16	Antigua and Barbuda	246.67	105	Republic of the Congo	190
17	Malaysia	246.67	106	The Gambia	190
18	New Zealand	246.67	107	Hungary	190
19	Norway	246.67	108	Libya	190
20	Seychelles	246.67	109	South Africa	190
21	Saint Kitts and Nevis	246.67	110	Cambodia	186.67
22	United Arab Emirates	246.67	111	Ecuador	186.67
23	United States	246.67	112	Kenya	186.67
24	Vanuatu	246.67	113	Lebanon	186.67
25	Venezuela	246.67	114	Morocco	186.67
26	Australia	243.33	115	Peru	186.67
27	Barbados	243.33	116	Senegal	186.67
28	Belgium	243.33	117	Bolivia	183.33
29	Dominica	243.33	118	Haiti	183.33
30	Oman	243.33	119	Nepal	183.33
31	Saudi Arabia	243.33	120	Nigeria	183.33
32	Suriname	243.33	121	Tanzania	183.33
33	Bahrain	240	122	Benin	180
34	Colombia	240	123	Botswana	180
35	Germany	240	124	Guinea-Bissau	180
36	Guyana	240	125	India	180
37	Honduras	240	126	Laos	180
38	Kuwait	240	127	Mozambique	180
39	Panama	240	128	Palestinian Authority	180
40	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	240	129	Slovakia	180
41	United Kingdom	236.67	130	Myanmar	176.67
42	Dominican Republic	233.33	131	Mali	176.67
43	Guatemala	233.33	132	Mauritania	176.67
44	Jamaica	233.33	133	Turkey	176.67
45	Qatar	233.33	134	Algeria	173.33
46	Spain	233.33	135	Equatorial Guinea	173.33
47	Saint Lucia	233.33	136	Romania	173.33
48	Belize	230	137	Bosnia and Herzegovina	170
49	Cyprus	230	138	Cameroon	170
50	Italy	230	139	Estonia	170
51	Mexico	230	140	Guinea	170
52	Samoa	230	141	Jordan	170
53	Singapore	230	142	Syria	170
54	Solomon Islands	230	143	Sierra Leone	166.67
55	Trinidad and Tobago	230	144	Azerbaijan	163.33
56	Argentina	226.67	145	Central African Republic	163.33
57	Fiji	223.33	146	Macedonia	163.33
58	Israel	223.33	147	Togo	163.33
59	Mongolia	223.33	148	Zambia	163.33
60	São Tomé and Príncipe	223.33	149	Angola	160
61	El Salvador	220	150	Djibouti	160
62	France	220	151	Egypt	160
63	Hong Kong	220	152	Burkina Faso	156.67
64	Indonesia	220	153	Ethiopia	156.67
65	Kyrgyzstan	220	154	Latvia	156.67
66	Maldives	220	155	Lithuania	156.67
67	Slovenia	220	156	Uganda	156.67
68	Taiwan	220	157	Albania	153.33
69	East Timor	220	158	Malawi	153.33
70	Tonga	220	159	Chad	150
71	Chile	216.67	160	Côte d'Ivoire	150
72	Grenada	216.67	161	Niger	150
73	Mauritius	216.67	162	Eritrea	146.67
74	Namibia	216.67	163	Rwanda	146.67
75	Paraguay	216.67	164	Bulgaria	143.33
76	Thailand	216.67	165	Lesotho	143.33
77	Czech Republic	213.33	166	Pakistan	143.33
78	Philippines	213.33	167	Russia	143.33
79	Tunisia	213.33	168	Swaziland	140
80	Uzbekistan	213.33	169	Georgia	136.67
81	Brazil	210	170	Belarus	133.33
82	China	210	171	Turkmenistan	133.33
83	Cuba	210	172	Armenia	123.33
84	Greece	210	173	Sudan	120
85	Nicaragua	210	174	Ukraine	120
86	Papua New Guinea	210	175	Moldova	116.67
87	Uruguay	210	176	Democratic Republic of the Congo	110
88	Gabon	206.67	177	Zimbabwe	110
89	Ghana	206.67	178	Burundi	100

Nevertheless, Kahneman's remarks surely oversimplify the issue in thinking that happiness can all be narrowed down to facts and figures, or that happiness would be the same everywhere if everyone had the same material prosperity, which flies in the face of the experience of all of us, that there are many happy people of modest means and many unhappy people of great means.

As Ed Diener and Shigehiro Oishi write in The Nonobvious Social Psychology of Happiness:

"Bradburn (1969), in his classic seminal work on well-being, found that social relationships were one of the strongest correlates of positive emotions.... Newer evidence now suggests that close social relationships are not simply correlates of well-being, but may have causal force.... Many people focus on wealth when they pursue happiness, but research on social relationships suggests that they can be more important than material prosperity to subjective well-being. The word needs to be spread – it is important to work on social skills, close interpersonal ties, and social support in order to be happy. It is a mistake to value money over social relationships. For instance, we found that students who value money more than love are dissatisfied with their lives...."

Take a look at the happiness quotes found at many pages on the Internet, e.g. Wisdom Quotes.

Our own favorite quotation in this regard is from Abraham Lincoln, because we think that expectations determine happiness on a day to day basis. Abe said (quoted here from Quote World):

"People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be."