Posted by A person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for — Tom Bodett
This is the first of several posts on this subject. Much of the following is drawn from World Happiness Report 2019, an annual report by the United Nations that summarizes and analyzes polling data (mostly by the Gallup Organization) on happiness around the world. While the concept of “happiness” is subjective, the report is as objective as possible. “Happiness” is measured by responses to the following question (called a “ladder question”). “Please imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?” Other measures of happiness are “positive affect” which asks, for example, “Did you smile or laugh a lot of the day yesterday?” and “negative affect” which asks, for example, “Did you worry a lot of the day yesterday?”
The United States doesn’t fare so well. It is the 19th happiest country, which also makes it the 18th happiest country among rich, Western nations. Here are its rankings among 155 nations around the world with respect to several measures of happiness as well as some of the determinants of happiness.
| Happiness Measure | U.S. Rank |
| Ladder measure of happiness | 19 |
| Positive affect | 35 |
| Negative affect | 69 |
| Causal Variables | |
| GDP per capita | 10 |
| Life expectancy | 39 |
| Social support | 37 |
| Freedom to make life choices | 67 |
| Generosity (giving to charity) | 12 |
| Perceived corruption in society | 41 |
So what are we to make of this? The data show we have high levels of negative affect like stress and worry; that despite our relatively high income, our life expectancy is way lower than it should be; and that we are not very connected to family and friends.
It is interesting to note that according to Gallup, “in terms of happiness…Africa [despite being the poorest and least healthy region in the world] scored highest: 83 per cent of its people said that they felt happy, or very happy. Africans were also the most optimistic: 75 per cent believed that 2015 would be better than 2014, and that the coming year would be one of economic prosperity.
In contrast, only 12 per cent of Western Europeans believed that 2015 would be a year of economic prosperity. In the UK, less than half (49 per cent) said that they were happy, and only a third thought that 2015 would be better than last year.”
Subsequent posts will try to answer the questions raised by the data above, such as “Why do we think our life choices are so limited?” and “Why do Americans feel their society is so corrupt?” (perhaps we have higher standards)? We will also break down the happiness of the American population by race, by religion and by where they live; discuss the impact of social media on the happiness of young people; look into suicide, depression, opioid addiction and the diseases of despair; examine the causes of the breakdown of society and the bleak economic prospects of so many in a booming economy; discuss education and health care, as they pertain to happiness; and look at spiritual solutions to our current “malaise” (Jimmy carter’s word, not mine).
