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Comment by trianglem | Hacker News Reader

Yeah but who would want to live in cold, wintery Iowa when you have the option of staying in a place that is warm year round.

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Can't get much colder or wintery than Finland, Denmark, and Norway, but

> For the second year in a row, the world's happiest country is... Finland!

> Finland topped the list of 156 countries, which were ranked in the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network's 2019 World Happiness Report. The report ranks countries on several well-being variables including income, freedom, trust, healthy life expectancy and more.

> Two other Nordic countries came in second and third place, Denmark and Norway, respectively.

From https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2019/03/20/finlan...

Meanwhile, in the tropics:

> On the other hand, South Sudan ranked the least happy on the list.

So perhaps the answer to “who would want to live somewhere that cold?” is “people who were born there and lived their whole lives there.” This is based on my understanding that those countries have very low rates of immigration.

Well, Sweden is 7th on the list and over 20% of the ppl here have foreign background (individuals either born abroad or having both parents born abroad). Canada is 9th.

People immigrate to sweden and canada for jobs, opportunities and generous welfare, not because they want to live there. It's mostly the poor and desperate who immigrate to these countries.

How many wealthy native born canadians visit sweden? Hardly any. How many wealthy native born swedes visit canada? Hardly any. I bet more swedes visit thailand in one day than they visit canada in a whole year.

Think it is more about living in a society that takes care of it's citizens.

South Sudan is in their sixth year of a brutal civil war...

They’ve done well with what they have. I wouldn’t put their happiness down to the weather, rather I think it’s in spite of it.

>> when you have the option of staying in a place that is warm year round.

Bugs. There is something to be said for a deep winter when opening a window doesn't mean invading in an Attenborough documentary worth of wildlife into your bedroom.

There are plenty of temperate places that are not tropical and don’t host a ton of bugs. Speaking of bug, the Russian tundra or Alaska are an absolute bug nightmare come summer.

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