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Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

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Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#31

Post by johnfn »

mi_noi_noi wrote: post #12

I am Norwegian and wonder how much of this is cultural. Most people here know that the rest of the world has much lower living standards. So for many it is perhaps rude or shameful to claim to be unhappy or dissatisfied. I know it says "subjective happiness" in the report, but I still suspect it might be an influence.

I'd imagine when you're given a study like this it doesn't have any clues that the context of such a study should be taken in the rest of the world. That would be a huge methodological failure on the part of the study.

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#32

Post by misja111 »

Yaggo wrote: post #27
acchow wrote: post #4

Post hoc ergo propter hoc.... but they're also incredible wealthy. I'm not saying money can buy happiness, but it pretty much can.

Norway and United States have very similar GDP per capita. The important difference is that in Nordic countries the money has been divided more equally.

Norway's GDP per capita is quite a bit higher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)...

Judging by the top entries in this list, GDP PP is a pretty good happiness predictor.

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#33

Post by dragonwriter »

TeeWEE wrote: post #28
cies wrote: post #23

Of 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...

Exactly what I thought, in some cultures asking somebody if they are happy on a 10 scale ladder, will result in high values because the culture's norm is to be positive. While in some other countries the social norm is to be pessimistic. But in the end those pessimistic countries wouldn't be a good place to be happy anyways :p

No, it's not about pessimism optimism. I some cultures (often, on the same country), people rate very high even if they have a moderately negative opinion because anything but the very highest available ratings is seen as saying "unacceptably bad", while in other cultures they tend to rate low even with a moderately positive opinion because high ratings are seen as, well, high praise.

It's not pessimism vs. optimism, it's that numeric ratings have no intrinsic, universal mapping to feelings, and cultures tend to map them differently.

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#34

Post by sundvor »

nkrisc wrote: post #17

After visiting Norway in the summer, the only thing that would give me pause with regards to living there is the winter. I live at 41°N right now and I think winter has to much darkness. Imagining the opposite of the Norwegian summer I experienced is a bit much for me.

I left #1 for #9 closer to two decades ago. Personally I find the Australian society more open and inclusive, and less concerned with material wealth.

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#35

Post by charlesdm »

sn41 wrote: post #18
mistermann wrote: post #8

1. 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…

Corruption does come in all shapes and sizes, but what you just described doesn't sound like corruption to me.

Selling off properties to foreign owners isn't necessarily bad policy (it can bring in foreign capital, that is then transferred to a local owner or resident)

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#36

Post by tazjin »

officelineback wrote: post #15
mi_noi_noi wrote: post #12

I am Norwegian and wonder how much of this is cultural. Most people here know that the rest of the world has much lower living standards. So for many it is perhaps rude or shameful to claim to be unhappy or dissatisfied. I know it says "subjective happiness" in the report, but I still suspect it might be an influence.

Interesting. And on the flip side, you have the law of Jante. Or is it OK to proclaim one's self as super happy? Maybe Jante is more about material success?

Janteloven is more about not assuming you are better than others. Being happy is perfectly compatible with that.

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#37

Post by sametmax »

larsiusprime wrote: post #25
gr3yh47 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do have one of the last truly representative governments left in the world though. Really cool system that hasnt been captured by big money interests and seems unlikely to be corrupted by the same any time soon

As a dual Norwegian/American citizen, I would posit that a lot of that has to do with scale (ie, scale is necessary, though certainly not sufficient). The Norwegian government is on the same scale as many American municipal governments! And then you have local governments under that, that are obviously much smaller and thus even more hyper-local than many of their American counterparts. The larger your state gets, th…

Indeed, and this is why natality is an important topic for democracy. It's not just a matter of resources. Everything is easier to manage with less people, meaning more transparency, fairness and equality. The fact that we are not over populated doesn't mean we should not think seriously about decreasing our population size. It's probably a requirement to make the system evolve.

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#39

Post by 3pt14159 »

mistermann wrote: post #8

1. 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…

Plenty of affordable places, just not near Toronto or Vancouver. If I wanted a less exciting life I'd buy a two bedroom in Halifax or Quebec City.

Take a look at Saint-Roch in Quebec City, for example. Two bedroom hip condo is around $200k. No car necessary, just walk around to buy stuff. In Halifax it would be around $240k for something downtown and walkable. In Toronto you'd be paying around $800k for these types of places.

I agree that there is a bubble, but it's mostly in BC and the GTA, everywhere else still seems like it hasn't jumped the shark.

Re: Happiness report: Norway is the happiest place on earth

#40

Post by talldan »

Vinkekatten wrote: post #21
nkrisc wrote: post #17

After visiting Norway in the summer, the only thing that would give me pause with regards to living there is the winter. I live at 41°N right now and I think winter has to much darkness. Imagining the opposite of the Norwegian summer I experienced is a bit much for me.

I'll be honest, it's a little rough. Around late december, the darkest part of the year, I barely see sunlight for a month or two. I'm at work by 8:30, sun rises 10. I leave work at 16:00, sun sets 14:00. It gets better though, so by february the worst bit is over. It's not really that awful - you really get a physical sense of the year progressing, and in a sense the darkness is cozy. Lots of light in the cities, st…

It's not too different in London, to be honest. In December the sun is only up at 8, during which time a lot of people are underground on the tube, and by 6 the sun has set again when we're doing the reverse journey.
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