U.S. hits new low in World Happiness Report

And in the midst of that is down to one final bank which if it collapsed is worth something like 20x the gdp of the nation in holdings.

So maybe the Swiss are waking up to how much more delicate their situation may be.

With that caveat, the conclusion there is that "The liberal-conservative happiness gap persists across all demographics".

Meaning there is no demographic category in which liberals are happier than conservatives — "conservative gays and lesbians report higher happiness than heterosexual liberals".

Lol.

Happiness can be studied in a lot of ways, and none of them is complete or accurate. Momentary happiness is possible in a miserable life and vice versa.

I suspect this survey does tell us something over time, if methodology is stable.

Dory, obviously.

Suicide rates aren't everything, but they are certainly telling a very different story. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_r...

Of course not. Easier to be snarkier than to research and understand.

For the record: The World Happiness Report is published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board.

https://www.worldhappiness.report/

Americas mistakes are not as unique to us as Europeans keep telling themselves.

"US is not actually unhappy. The survey is broken" or somesuch.

It's the national sport. In fact, if you tell most Norwegians about coming 7th on a World Happiness ranking, odds are high most of us will complain loudly about that too, thinking we deserve a higher spot, and that there's no ways the Finns and especially Swedes can be higher than us on the list (being beaten by the Danes is okay).

In other words, I don't think this matches cultural acceptability of complaining at all. Norwegians will express dissatisfaction loudly and about everything (don't get a Norwegian started on the quality of the roads, or taxes; at the same time, don't get a majority of Norwegians started on "American conditions" or the political parties that might bring them about by lowering taxes), while still generally living pretty great lives.

One thing I've noticed being back recently: cost of living has gotten very unaffordable in Amsterdam the last time I was back. Cost of basic goods is on par with what I'm used to paying in major American cities, but my Dutch relatives often earn a decent bit less. I wonder if this will affect Dutch happiness in future surveys once affordability exceeds more and more people's earnings.

For example, it's considered weird to talk about how many times I went to the bathroom this week but if asked by a doctor I would be more willing to provide the information

Or equally lack of envy or discontent.

This one I am not familiar with. What's the latest development here?

Oops.

Here's a report of the countries with most antidepressant users in the world 2024 (https://ceoworld.biz/2024/05/12/revealed-countries-with-most...):

1. Iceland

2. Portugal

3. UK

4. Canada

5. Australia

6. Sweden

7. Spain

8. New Zealand

9. Chile

10. Belgium

This report lists OECD countries but excludes the US. If the US were included, the report suggests the US would be among the top (either highest or second-highest) in terms of DDD per 1,000 inhabitants.

I never understood that. What is the point of amassing all that money and power if you have to grovel to terrible people?

I woke up today and the sun shining and birds chirping. I made myself and my partner breakfast, greeted people on my way to work. I got a good amount of work done, then had a nice lunch and now I'm taking a little break.

My life is better than it was growing up and substantially better than how bad it was for my ancestors.

Perhaps my expectations are lower than yours or perhaps I'm more focused on the present and my actual experiences rather than ruminating on whatever sensationalistic news story of the day is or what could happen, but while I can't say I'm happy about most of what you describe, they don't affect my day-to-day happiness. I'm not going to worry about things I can't change that may or may not affect me.

Yes but that calibration is also the secret to happiness.

You’re just covering up the real truth: Finnish happiness is a result of everyone having access to a sauna :)

Mina rakastan löyly, haluan saunassa nyt!

(What I hope I said: ‘I love throwing water on the sauna rocks and the experience of the resulting steam, I want to go into a sauna now’)

———————

On a more serious note, do you think the ever present threat of Russia and obligatory military service affects the expectations of Finnish people? Meaning, there is an actual tangible threat bordering Finland, which last invaded just 86 years ago (and forced Finland to ally with a country we won’t name so they would emerge from WWII independent, only Norway and Finland managed to achieve that, every other European country bordering the USSR was behind the iron curtain)

Do you think that keeps Finnish people’s expectations more grounded? Or is it something else entirely?

that's not really a secret or calibration issue though, that gets to the core of what happiness is, a relational property between expectation and reality. It's not an objective measure like income or height.

I don't think the notion of an 'objective' quality of life even makes a lot of sense. Quality of life is always measured against some concrete alternative, not against some abstract scale or points based system. Two people are going to have very different attitudes towards some way of life purely depending on what direction they come from.

I have lived in Thailand for the last ~8yrs. It's unfortunate not to see it on the list as I think generally speaking Thais are much happier than either US (where I travel a lot for work) or Australians (my home country).

A big chunk of that is the expectations, they don't need many material things to enjoy life and place a much higher emphasis on community and social standing (which isn't primarily derived from material wealth). Your occupation in Thailand has a very large impact on your social standing - more than the income you derive from it. i.e doctors are extremely well respected, however public doctors more so than private ones despite the latter being more wealthy.

Sense of community is something that builds you up rather than the Western trope of comparing yourself to your neighbour that breaks you down.

That very simple difference seems to have an outsized impact on how happy folk are here.

There are exceptions and Bangkok is much more Western but if you live out in the country like me then Thailand is a very happy place.

There are many barriers which can be almost impossible to surmount: learning a new language, leaving your friends behind, having to finding a job (what if you don't speak the language), having to sell you house and car, etc.

Americans are so drunk on the liberalism kool-aid that they think they can just relocate and instantly be accepted into new communities.

This doesn't work, and when it is observed empirically by our subject, he complains about "racism" etc. - except ofc. white-knighting and doubling down on this against non-"expat" black/brown "subhumans".

Japan is filled with such "last-Samurai" larpers.

That combined with little to no hope that either political party will do a damn thing to fix it (Democrats at least have some politicians who actually want to, but they are stymied by their own leadership, never mind the problem of not having any real national level political power currently).