The World’s Happiest and Unhappiest Peoples
The subjective well-being rankings are one part of the largest social-science study ever. The World Values Survey, an ongoing investigation by a global network of social scientists, measures social, cultural and political change on all six populated continents.
Orlando Sentinel, Sunday, March 27. 2005,
“Where’s happiest place on Earth? Puerto Rico, poll says”
It’s not entirely clear what “criteria” the “World Values Survey” “used” when “polling” the “happiest” and “unhappiest” “nations” in the “world,” so you might want to take all of this with a generous dose of salt, but like almost everything else these days, it did get me thinking about my own situation, because I’m nothing if not solipsistic, although I’d say that I’m probably 28% more solipsistic than Moldova, but a full 57% less solipsistic than South Africa.
In any event, some things to note briefly about what seems a frankly rather unscientific poll. Evidently the rankings are “based on responses to questions about happiness and life satisfaction.” Aside from the fact that nobody polled me to establish my personal happiness quotient as a percentage of the national happiness index, I do wonder what that must have been like.
Survey: How happy are you?
Respondent: Oh, pretty happy.
Survey: On a scale of 1 to 10?
Respondent: I’d say at least a 7.
Survey: And you represent…?
Respondent: The Netherlands. Definitely the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, happiness is always 7 out of a possible 10, where 1 is the least happy and ten is the most happy.
Now I’m by no means among the happiest people in the world, or even among the happiest people I know, but neither am I the unhappiest. It all kind of depends when you ask me, really. I mean, don’t ask me these kinds of questions on a Monday, otherwise my happiness quotient will be way down in the satisfaction basement with Zimbabwe and Indonesia, but if on the other hand you ask me on a Thursday night when I’m up in the bar and the weekend’s almost here, I’d be almost as happy as Mexico or Denmark. So I guess I’m saying, that if they asked Ukraine how happy it was on a Sunday night when it was just about to go back to work, it’s no wonder they got such a surly response. And if they asked Puerto Rico on a Friday night or a Saturday morning how it was doing, it’s no surprise either that Puerto Rico was all sunshine and lollipops about its prospects for the foreseeable future, because Puerto Rico was probably either dining with friends and loved ones or about to go to the farmers’ market with the girl of its dreams. And if somebody maybe called Belarus when it was in the middle of dinner, then I’d imagine that Belarus might have been a little testy to have to answer questions about its happiness while its dinner went cold on the table. I guess I’m saying that it’s possible that the survey might have been flawed in some way, maybe.
But it did start me wondering about starting this survey at a more grassroots level, say in my town, and then compiling the results by area and even by street. At a very rough estimate based on no polling data whatsoever, I’m going to suggest that I live on the fifth happiest street in my town, although I’m probably only in the 90th happiest house on that street (it’s a long story, the last few months have been rough, I’m not getting enough exercise, spiritual growth is sluggish, I’m kind of disgusted with myself at the moment). So my personal nation is kind of sucking in the happiness stakes, even though my immediate area appears to be thriving. But if you check back in with me next year with some smarter fucking questions, I’ll try to be a bit sunnier, OK?
