The Geography of Happiness

From Barking Up the Wrong Tree:

What can you learn about happiness from the unhappiest place on Earth?

Eric Weiner traveled all over the world — from the most joy-filled countries to the unhappiest place on Earth — for his book The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World.

His first stop is to check out the World Database of Happiness in the Netherlands where he reviews studies on well-being. He sums up the research pretty quickly and pretty well.

Via The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World:

Extroverts are happier than introverts; optimists are happier than pessimists; married people are happier than singles, though people with children are no happier than childless couples; Republicans are happier than Democrats; people who attend religious services are happier than those who do not; people with college degrees are happier than those without, though people with advanced degrees are less happy than those with just a BA; people with an active sex life are happier than those without; women and men are equally happy, though women have a wider emotional range; having an affair will make you happy but will not compensate for the massive loss of happiness that you will incur when your spouse finds out and leaves you; people are least happy when they’re commuting to work; busy people are happier than those with too little to do; wealthy people are happier than poor ones, but only slightly.

It’s not easy to figure out why some places are happy and others are not. Anyone looking for easy theories is in for a surprise.

Via The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World:

The happiest places, he explains, don’t necessarily fit our preconceived notions. Some of the happiest countries in the world— Iceland and Denmark, for instance— are homogeneous, shattering the American belief that there is strength, and happiness, in diversity. One finding, which Veenhoven just uncovered, has made him very unpopular with his fellow sociologists. He found that income distribution does not predict happiness. Countries with wide gaps between the rich and poor are no less happy than countries where the wealth is distributed more equally. Sometimes, they are happier… With each click of the mouse, I encounter mysteries and apparent contradictions. Like this: Many of the world’s happiest countries also have high suicide rates. Or this one: People who attend religious services report being happier than those who do not, but the world’s happiest nations are secular. And, oh, the United States, the richest, most powerful country in the world, is no happiness superpower. Many other nations are happier than we are.

Friends are a big part of happiness. One of the secrets to Iceland’s happiness might be that it is so small, homogenous and tightly knit that people run into friends wherever they go.

Via The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World:

On a practical level, Iceland’s smallness means that parents needn’t bother with that old bromide about not talking to strangers. There are no strangers in Iceland. People are constantly running into friends and acquaintances. It’s not unusual for people to show up thirty minutes late for work because en route they encountered a parade of friends. This is a perfectly valid excuse, by the way, for being late. The Icelandic equivalent of traffic was hell.

Of course, that can have its downsides as well.

Via The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World:

Geneticists have found that everyone in the country is related to everyone else, going back seven or eight generations. Icelanders can go to a website and find out how closely they are related to a colleague, a friend— or that cutie they slept with last night. One woman told me how unnerving this can be. “You’ve slept with this guy you’ve just met and then the next day you’re at a family reunion, and there he is in the corner eating smoked fish. You’re like—‘ Oh, my God, I just slept with my second cousin.’

Bhutan is so interested in the happiness of its citizens the government eschews Gross National Product for a Gross National Happiness scale....MORE

The Icelandic mating problem has probably been solved, see April's post "Icelandic and Afraid You're Going to Have Sex with Your Cousin?".