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Summary
- Countries with smaller populations are happier.
- The top 20 ranks were almost identical to the previous year. Interestingly, life evaluation scores in the top 10 countries are more than twice those in the bottom 10.
- Positive emotions matter more than the absence of negative emotions when measuring happiness and longevity, said the report.
The quality of the social environment determines our happiness and wellbeing, says the World Happiness Report 2020, a major survey on happiness quotient in 156 participating countries.
The report draws inspiration from the Bhutanese government’s resolution in June 2011 that emphasizes happiness and wellbeing to determine social and economic progress.
The report explores how the social environment affects happiness. For example, individuals who have higher interpersonal and institutional trust levels do better than others in adverse situations, like ill-health, family breakdown, unemployment, low income, and discrimination.
How social environment affects our happiness
The average national happiness is measured under six variables: GDP per capita, generosity, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, and freedom from corruption, the report said. Furthermore, two key findings emerge from the study. First, the national average evaluation is affected by inequality of wellbeing. Secondly, a supportive social environment increases the life evaluation directly or indirectly and delivers good gains to those in despair.
But how do healthy life expectancy and income impact life evaluation? Freedom and generosity have a higher impact on the positive aspects. Also, the absence of corruption, social support, and freedom considerably reduce the negative effect, said the report. It found that sustained positive emotions are essential for a good life. Thus, positive emotions matter more than the absence of negative emotions when measuring happiness and longevity, according to the report.
Source: Pixabay.
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World’s happiest countries score highly on social metrics
Finland retained the top spot as the world’s happiest country. It was way ahead of other countries in happiness score. Denmark increased its average happiness quotient and bagged second position. Switzerland, recording a higher happiness score, jumped to the third spot from sixth in the previous year. Iceland, Norway, and the Netherlands ranked fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively.
The top 20 ranks were almost identical to the previous year. Interestingly, life evaluation scores in the top 10 countries are more than twice those in the bottom 10.
Another fascinating factor emerges from the survey is countries with smaller populations are happier. For instance, the living evaluation of people in South Asia is far below their counterparts in Europe. Population-increase negatively affects wellbeing.
Worry, anger, and sadness give rise to negativity. So, the ten countries that scored poorly on life evaluation experienced a combination of political, social, and economic stress. It was also observed that a robust social environment lowers happiness loss, and its absence can be devastating during a negative situation.
