That's what you get when you combine oil riches, Nordic model and coastline designed by Slartibartfast.
Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Sweden do not have oil.
Iceland has geothermal, which helps because energy imports would be REALLY expensive.
Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth
111–120 of 168 posts
Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth
#112One of the most depressing things I ever read is about Norwegians not having good ideas for spending their money, so the tend to opt for buying second and third holiday homes. I mean I am sure having holiday homes provides a certain degree of happiness, it was just the mundaneness and banality of the human condition that depressed me about it.
If you have experienced the nature in Norway, you will understand having holiday cottages is a nice way to spend money.
One or two, yes - but three? As I said, for sure it provides some happiness. But the lack of ideas is simply depressing.
A similarly depressing thing I read is about people in Second Life simply recreating the houses they dream about in real life, despite having infinite possibilities.
Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth
#113I wonder if the lack of ethnic diversity in the "happier" countries is a contributing factor: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/16...
Why is this considered a reasonable factor that's often brought up in discussions rather than other somewhat unique aspects of their government and society?
Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth
#114I wonder if the lack of ethnic diversity in the "happier" countries is a contributing factor: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/16...
This is a strange conclusion from the data provides. One counterexample is Switzerland (4th): "Switzerland and Australia, with about a quarter of their population born outside the country, are the two countries with the highest proportion of immigrants in the western world." [1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Switzerland
Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone living in Norway who has been quite interested in the subject and read a lot about it. My understanding is that nordic countries tend to come at the top, not because people are jumping around with joy in the streets. More likely to find that in South America or Africa. Nordic happiness is a mild happiness. It is really about having few people very dissatisfied with life rather than having super happy peopl…
Very true. I bet Scandinavia ranks highest in 'average happiness', but much lower in 'peak happiness', if that makes sense. There is a kind of oppressive atmosphere here where you are expected to subdue yourself, like it is a sin to stick out in a positive way (how dare you make the rest of us feel worse off with your success).
I concur with jamesblonde. American culture is very particular in that it encourages bragging and self-aggrandizing as a good character trait. It takes a while to get used to that when moving to the US. As a simple example a very good friend of mine had issues with interviewing for jobs because she'd understate her achievements. She'd be asked "so what's your experience with Photoshop and Illustrator" and she'd say "well, I've used them a lot and I'm comfortable with them." An American with half her experience would confidently say "I'm an expert." It took a lot of cajoling to get her to be less modest - at least while interviewing.
Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth
#116Norway is great country to live. And IT jobs salaries are almost as good as in US ~ $100k https://jobsquery.it/jobs;page=1;tags=;sortBy=SALARY_DESC;qu...
Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth
#1171. Norway 146. Yemen 2. Denmark 147. South Sudan 3. Iceland 148. Liberia 4. Switzerland 149. Guinea 5. Finland 150. Togo 6. Netherlands 151. Rwanda 7. Canada 152. Syria 8. New Zealand 153. Tanzania 9. Australia 154. Burundi 10. Sweden Will be interesting to see how spots 7, 8, 9 hold up going forward as many/most middle class people in these 3 countries increasingly find they cannot afford even a very modest home wit…
I am an Indian who have lived for a while in NZ. Please do not chug on this Kool-Aid that NZ is not corrupt. Part of the reason why real estate in Auckland is overpriced is because the government deliberately does not formulate a legislation that forbids non-residents from buying up property. Please petition for this reasonable legislation. Who does the current policy enrich? It is your country. I think you should fi…
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Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth
#118I wonder if the lack of ethnic diversity in the "happier" countries is a contributing factor: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/16...
This is a strange conclusion from the data provides. One counterexample is Switzerland (4th): "Switzerland and Australia, with about a quarter of their population born outside the country, are the two countries with the highest proportion of immigrants in the western world." [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Switzerland
The largest immigrant groups in Switzerland are from Italy and Germany--countries with which Switzerland has close ethnic and linguistic ties. Same thing with Australia. By far the largest foreign-born groups in Australia are from the U.K. and New Zealand, again countries with which Australia has close ethnic and linguistic ties.
Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth
#119Of course the outcomes of this kind of research are largely dependent on way it is designed. There is a similar study that finds Latin American countries to be among the happiest. Discussed here: http://www.livescience.com/50209-happiest-countries-latin-am...
IIRC there was a similar study about six or seven years ago that found Nigerians were the most contented.
Such rigor!
Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very true. I bet Scandinavia ranks highest in 'average happiness', but much lower in 'peak happiness', if that makes sense. There is a kind of oppressive atmosphere here where you are expected to subdue yourself, like it is a sin to stick out in a positive way (how dare you make the rest of us feel worse off with your success).
That oppresive cultural phenomenom you refer to is called 'modesty' (Jantelag in Sweden - Jante's law). I also experience it in rural ireland - 'dont get too big for your boots', 'dont let it go to his/her head' (although rank selfishness is still socially acceptable in catholic rural ireland as long as you make up for it with by being a 'character'). Selfishness doesn't fly in Sweden. Modesty plays an important role…
> (Jantelag in Sweden - Jante's law)
Please don't. That was the creation of one author that was a bit of a grump to put it mildly.
Also, he formulated that in the 1930s.