I’m a bit sceptical of population density as being such a definitive factor. Yes nordic countries have very low population density. However that partly is because enormous areas are simply empty and so far north that very few will live there. This skews the density figures. If you are in the centre of Helsinki with its fin-de-siecle tenement housing then you will see relatively high population density.
Equally, apart from access to green spaces, what about urban planning, promoting physical activity, progressive taxation, good healthcare and good education is made harder by high population density?
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Helsinki has 3k per square KM, London has 5.7k. Helsinki has 630k in total. London has 9 - 10m . In terms of complexity it’s incomparable. Britain is often compared unfavourably to tiny countries which are far easier to organise and run.
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Their mental health spend has rocketed in recent years. They have invested in trying to turn around the depressive scale. But isolation does lead to depression even if it’s intrinsic to their culture. Perhaps they are just happier than they used to be but starting at a lower threshold?
Again, I must ask, apart from access to green spaces, what about urban planning, promoting physical activity, progressive taxation, good healthcare and good education is made harder by high population density?
And why are smaller (not tiny) countries ‘easier to run’? I do not understand your argument.
try this one if you’ve got some relaxation time;
Neither Here, Nor There
Travels in Europe
By: Bill Bryson
Neither Here, Nor There
Travels in Europe
Isn’t that a good thing? Especially since it has shown demonstrably positive results, making people’s lives happier.
I couldn’t find evidence for their isolation. Could you elaborate? I only found info on social isolation from COVID-19 like everyone else was doing.
Perhaps but the data is not based on a delta change, and after 5 years of being on top, wouldn’t the rate of change decrease anyway?
What’s a delta change? Can’t find anything online that explains it very well.
This is the closest definition. Wiki
" A change in the value of a variable in calculus”
The year over year change is the delta. Comparing the numbers is the change in delta or delta change.
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Demographic challenges, cultural diversity, deprivation for a start - all are going to be more prevalent in high population societies, particularly where there are scarce resources due to density. It’s just more complex and complexity leads to chaos.
how do we know the data is “clean” & normalised? Happiness is so subjective. Someone has come up with a hierarchy of happiness based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Those who have recently been suicidal may feel happiness is safety from the brink.
So- define happiness. It would appear it might be a spectrum.
You’re suggesting that every year for 5 years, the panel of people picked to survey have been suicidal and are now grateful. That seems unlikely and improbable.
Ah, gotcha. Thought it was more complicated. Since you’d used the term “delta change”, which would translate to “a year on year change change” I thought there might be a specific complex stats figure (or calculation) involved.
Hi that isn’t what I said. But if the sampling is truly random then you should have someone who has a mental health disorder in the Finnish cohort as 1 in 5 adults there are affected (likely to be higher since Covid). The highest in the EU at the time of the data collection (2018).
There are so many confounding variables in such a study. I’m assuming they tried to normalise but I haven’t seen the underlying statistics.
The wiki on the world happiness report. It shows the methodology of how this measure is conducted and the underlying statistics by year. The wiki also presents other happiness survey methodologies. It also gives some criticism of this methodology.
There is also a wiki on the quality of life measures that show different methodologies for their reports.
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Happiness and quality of life assessments certainly include all the things mentioned in your post. There is also, no doubt, a perception of how fair and equal the society in which one lives is. So, back to Finland, they apply a high degree of fairness. There is openness about the earnings and tax people pay. Many things, such as speeding fines, are earnings linked. So people understand that some others will earn a lot more. However, they also see that penalties are directly linked to that. Famously the CFO of Nokia, when it was a really big and successful company worth tens of billions, was fined 130,000 euros for speeding. The logic and fairness is that had he been only fined a few hundred it would mean nothing to him. In the same way a few hundred is painfully expensive for someone on low income. Happiness also relates to society’s fairness.
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So interesting. Maybe that helps people feel a little better about income inequality which is a major source of dissatisfaction in societies.
this is after all just survey used across countries and varying societies etc - almost impossible to compare equitably - it is NOT rigorous research and can cause arguments and inequities among varying countries. One of the first comments made was that the opinion or rating of the finnish people being high on the scale was misleading or words to that effect. this demonstrates right at the beginning the innaccuracies of such sampling. I mentioned Bill Brysons book and his travels through europe and his observations of many of the rich european countries being big drinkers and high levels of suicide and depression
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All very true and worth noting, thanks.
But on the other hand, the broad message is that some countries appear to be able to serve their people better and enable a better existence for the people that live within their borders. We British should perhaps stop and consider what elements or facets are missing (or all too present) that makes people living here less happy, less content, more divided than we see elsewhere. Surely these are self-reflections and debates that we need to have.
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As large numbers of swedes and fins are moving into Spain they can’t all be happy in their cold Nordic countries .
@Muddy ,If thats true, and l think it is, surely thats an indication of the importance of sunshine to human beings regardless of the standard of
living in their native country?
Of course that depends on if that standard of living is not too low!
What l am trying to say is that people will always prefer a warm climate
to a cold one,mits natural !! 