National Happiness Survey 2013 Results.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Not all news is gloom and doom.

 

Seems that if you live in the frozen north, you are a happier camper.

[LexusInfernus 908]

Hah! We are 4th

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Not surprising that those colder countries are happier than us. Not surprising that US Americans are unhappy. The USA has some serious culture and economic problems (despite being in the lead, which is disconcerting because we can bring most of the world crashing down with us...), mostly due to rampant consumerism (been that way since Reagan, coincidentally so has the Internet), overmedication (the USA has high consumption of drugs, both prescribed pharmaceuticals and illegal substances), lack of counseling and support (virtually no USA citizens get the psychological help or support they deserve from family, friends, or counselors), trashy pop-culture, horrible economic management, etc (I could go on but it is lunch time).

--Ocram

[Easy Bakes 253]

The Denis Leary Quote about happiness is not appropriate for this forum

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Well, we are in the catbird seat, more or less.  Happiness is, of course, relative to your individual situation.  Our population is small and our territory large, so if you don't like where you are, you can freely go elsewhere.  With three sea coasts and everything in between, we have a lot of places to just go and do your own thing.

 

Freedom is relative, but I think it is essential to happiness.  Notwithstanding some restrictions, I think we are freer than most peoples.

[astronelson 339]

Australia only at tenth? I'm not happy about that!

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Australia only at tenth? I'm not happy about that!

Probably the miserable weather and Mr. Rabbit

[flatron 83]

I don't think that happiness says anything. If you have troubles ahead, you'd better live in the moment and make the best of it. Coming from a country where optimism is unknown, I'd say that I worry about almost everything, from climate change to globalization to nuclear catastrophes etc. In this time being happy seems a bit hypocritical... There are bad things happening in canada, as well, take just oily sands in Alberta, etc. You're running towards an environmental disaster that is unpredecessed.

[Terring 6,476]

According to the local newspapers, Greece is in 70th place. Most Greeks were born to be miserable, but now with the financial crisis the situation is out of control!

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Coming from a country where optimism is unknown,

That certainly made me a bit happier.

 

EDIT

[For those of you might not know, we come from the same country.]

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

The open pit operations on the oil sands and the messy extraction processes are being worked on.  Alberta has environmental laws now that insist the open pit operators must restore the land to status quo ante when their operations are finished.  Other operators are using frakking to keep things neat on top.  The only fly in the ointment is the pollution caused to raise the necessary steam.  An on-location small nuke plant could fix most of that.  The people working in Ft. McMurray are surely happy to have jobs.

[flatron 83]

Yeah, nuclear power plants are a very good solution against pollution Why not simply stop drilling and let the corporations pay for the cleaning of the area? This would generate jobs as well.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

They are not drilling for prospecting.  What's happening now is mostly frakking (sort of -- some companies use steam to leach the oil from the strata)  except for the remaining open pits which are being watched like a hawk looking at a nest of mice.

[flatron 83]

Sorry for being inexact Fracking is just as bad, as it pollutes the area aswell.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Well, if you look at it compared to open pit operations it is like the breezes of spring.

[TekindusT 3,809]

@flatron, @T Wrecks: I still don't see where's the lack of optimism in Germany. I've found really cheerful people and people who must have been having a bad day during the seven months I've spent here. Just like everywhere else, I guess. And this even more worthy after experimenting what is being entire weeks without seeing the sun.

 

As it can be seen on the survey, I guess you can sum it all up in "it's about the money, not about the weather".

[flatron 83]

Yeah, we are able to party(hard), but there is always this consciousness about all the bad things that might eventually happen to us, europe, the world , the universe...

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Be happy.  Tomorrow never comes.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

@flatron/TekindusT: Yup, that describes it rather well. People are of course not always sullen and pessimistic on an individual level, but as a collective and in terms of politics and the overall situation on national, European and global levels, they tend to see most things very critical. For example, there is a strong discrepancy between actual crime levels and the perceived development of crime. If you ask the general public about aspects like these, the tenor will almost inevitably be "it's bad, and it keeps getting worse".

[Hellken 1,658]

Where can I get a complete list?

 

**EDIT: Download the report here: http://unsdsn.org/happiness/

[AkemiAzula 280]

Back in Australia I was never happy since they took Megan to Perth and then only briefly prior to that. Here in England I have not been happy. I tend to find happiness to be overrated and pointless like all emotions. I'd rather a bottle of ale or some money or some nice weather any day than an emotional drug coursing through my brain's wiring, elating me into unrealistic plains of ignorance.