Happiness ratings by country in Europe

Found this map showing the happiness ratings by country for Europe based on a Life Evaluation 3 year average from 2019-2021.

Is your country happy?

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I’m color blind can you assist? all the rich countries then?

The Finns are happiest? That has to be a wind up.

remember the old adage - now what was the old adage ? - ohyes there are lies damned lies and statistics especially the dark blue ones!!

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Why do you think that? On almost every report I’ve seen, Finland scores at or near the top.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world

Even with a change in how the statistics were gathered due to covid not allowing for interviews, on just the quantitative measurements, Finland was still on top.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-happiest-countries-2021/index.html

they are all on full strength beers and more!

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It used to be the suicide capital of Europe

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:astonished: Wow that’s interesting. I didn’t know that. It must have changed. Any thoughts about why?

Based on that article, it looks like a suicide campaign and improved treatment helped and the media exaggerate their problem although the suicide rate is still relatively high.

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perhaps being happy in Finland means being pissed all the time - or so I’ve heard. That guy who travels around the world writing books did a european one and found Finland and others big drinkers but big laws too - so the beer keeps them "happy’ and the law gets them home?

dig beneath the surface and?

might be better pulling up beer consumption charts - the germans are big drinkers and many others too and of course the brits and aussies and russians for that matter - yes stats can be skewed to show only singly elements of social norms?

I suppose if you are locked idoors for several months each year due to
the climate, it makes you depressed ?? ( Just think lock down ?) .
This would account for the heavy drinking too, which makes the depression
worse, so l dont see how Finland gets its high rating unless its as gummy
says and the booze creates a false sense of reality which ends in depression ??
Alcohol is a depressant ! :thinking::thinking:

I seriously doubt the validity of some of these stats…
Find out who provides the financing for these kinds of surveys, and you can usually predict what the result will be… :009:

Here are the disclosures for the World Happiness Report which takes data from the Gallup world Poll data.

Here are the editors

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Thanks butterscotch, I guess I’m just an old cynic…
:sunglasses:

That does not surprise me. The standard of living is very high in Finland for average people. They have no homeless - simply because the provide housing for anyone who becomes homeless. They have UV lamps in every home (and hotel room) to counter the long winter nights with little sunshine (key source of depression). They have something like 25% of the world’s saunas - they love a sauna and have no hang ups about being naked together. They do drink and drink a lot when they go out (alcohol is not mad expensive like Denmark) but that is not the same as always drinking. They understand not speaking, they are happy to let silence run whilst in a group or meeting, so don’t simply say anything to fill a silence. Their language is unique (closest in structure and words is Hungarian) and very difficult to learn. And Finland is a pretty cool place. Helsinki is a great town. I’d very much recommend visiting.

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It sounds like my sort of place, I must go see :+1: I especially like the bit about the homeless

The reasons the experts in that report gives are fairly clear, and sadly, don’t happen here

“Research shows that high national ranking on these surveys is not so much about culture. It’s more about how a country’s institutions take care of their people—this leads to higher ratings of life satisfaction”

“According to other experts at Helsinki-based Aalto University, other factors contributing to this small country’s success include smart urban planning, access to green spaces to reduce stress and promote physical activity, an effective system of progressive taxation and strong healthcare and education systems”

Wouldn’t you love to have those things here?

As they have only 18 people per square KM (vs 434 in England) and 5m people in the whole country it might be easy to arrange these benefits & run the country in an enlightened way.

The happiness rating data is an average to 2021 so it would be interesting to see an update 2020 to 2022.

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Check out post #5. Finland was on the top all those years so it’s likely the average would be the same.