It must be the Legos and plethora of great hockey and tennis players...GO USA!!! we're apparently slacking in the happy department, so GET WITH IT!!!
Study: World Gets Happier
LiveScience Staff
LiveScience.com
Mon Jun 30, 1:16 PM ET
Despite the anxieties of these times, happiness has been on the rise around the world in recent years, a new survey finds.
The upbeat outlook is attributed to economic growth in previously poor countries, democratization of others, and rising social tolerance for women and minority groups.
"It's a surprising finding," said
Denmark is the happiest nation and Zimbabwe the the most glum, he found. (
The
The results of the survey, going back an average of 17 years in 52 countries and involving 350,000 people, will be published in the July 2008 issue of the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. Researchers have asked the same two questions over the years: "Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, not at all happy?" And, "All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?"
A Happiness Index created from the answers rose in 40 countries between 1981 and 2007, and it fell in the other 12.
Scientists had thought happiness is stable over time when looking at entire societies. "Most previous research suggests that people and nations are stuck on a 'hedonic treadmill,'" Inglehart said. "The belief has been that no matter what happens or what we do, basic happiness levels are stable and don't really change."
So Inglehart's team was surprised that happiness "rose substantially." They speculate reasons for the sunny outlooks include societal shifts in recent decades: Low-income countries such as
Previous research has found that happiness is partly inherited and that money doesn't buy much of it.
Yet the new survey finds people of rich countries tend to be happier than those of poor countries. And controlling for economic factors, certain types of societies are much happier than others.
"The results clearly show that the happiest societies are those that allow people the freedom to choose how to live their lives," Inglehart said.
A survey released last week found one reason
The World Values Surveys, led by Inglehart, was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Swedish and Netherlands Foreign Ministries, and other institutions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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