Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

World Happiness Report 2026

worldhappiness.report

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 116 posts

Re: World Happiness Report 2026

#41

Post by bauerd »

boringg wrote: post #33
bigtones wrote: post #8

FYI: This world happiness report is entirely based on asking just one obtuse question, which does not even have the word happiness in the actual question: Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you…

Doesn't that almost imply the happiest countries in the world have a lack of imagination on what could be better? Or maybe they don't suffer from comparison (the thief of joy) as a culture.

>a lack of imagination on what could be better

I'd argue it's likelier that people are more informed about their absolute position globally. Any screen gets you the mental image of the top of the ladder. So happy people would end up scoring themselves low, because there's a globalized vision of wealth nowadays.

Besides there's a difference in life self-evaluation and experienced happiness, so the report really is a misnomer.

Re: World Happiness Report 2026

#42

Post by lostmsu »

PowerElectronix wrote: post #19
stabbles wrote: post #4

You would think that Finland's unemployment rate (10%+) would influence its ranking, but that's not the case at all.

As it's selfreporting and it's more about expectations than actual happiness a finnish dude only needs to think that life is just incredible compared to what he sees at the other side of the border to selfreport a 10 in happiness

Could also explain Israel

Re: World Happiness Report 2026

#43

Post by dyauspitr »

bigtones wrote: post #8

FYI: This world happiness report is entirely based on asking just one obtuse question, which does not even have the word happiness in the actual question: Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you…

Pretty good question I would say. It’s rating your life on a scale of 1 to 10. That being said it doesn’t gauge actual happiness. For instance the Nordic countries have very high levels of depression with a third of the some countries being on antidepressants. As a whole I would say on a day to day basis people are much more ebullient and happy seeming in a lot of other places like the Mediterranean. I would wager that this doesn’t capture the percentage of time people are “happy”.

Re: World Happiness Report 2026

#44

Post by erelong »

I think social media is being wrongly made in to a scapegoat

Rather, social media mis-use is a symptom of young people having a lack of things like "third spaces" to go to to socialize at, of not having meaningful work or volunteer opportunities, of lacking certain other things that may have existed in the past.

Social media offers a new engaging experiment that fills the void of some of these things that don't exist elsewhere otherwise but doesn't act as an equivalent replacement

Re: World Happiness Report 2026

#45

Post by chalupa-supreme »

erelong wrote: post #44

I think social media is being wrongly made in to a scapegoat Rather, social media mis-use is a symptom of young people having a lack of things like "third spaces" to go to to socialize at, of not having meaningful work or volunteer opportunities, of lacking certain other things that may have existed in the past. Social media offers a new engaging experiment that fills the void of some of these things that don't exist…

Social media companies are actors that actively compete for the attention of young people. That does result in collapsing third spaces and social events because it’s easier/cheaper to just post on IG or hang out on discord.

Re: World Happiness Report 2026

#46

Post by travisgriggs »

erelong wrote: post #44

I think social media is being wrongly made in to a scapegoat Rather, social media mis-use is a symptom of young people having a lack of things like "third spaces" to go to to socialize at, of not having meaningful work or volunteer opportunities, of lacking certain other things that may have existed in the past. Social media offers a new engaging experiment that fills the void of some of these things that don't exist…

Are you positing that not-young people aren’t suffering from the same?

Re: World Happiness Report 2026

#47

Post by genghisjahn »

erelong wrote: post #44

I think social media is being wrongly made in to a scapegoat Rather, social media mis-use is a symptom of young people having a lack of things like "third spaces" to go to to socialize at, of not having meaningful work or volunteer opportunities, of lacking certain other things that may have existed in the past. Social media offers a new engaging experiment that fills the void of some of these things that don't exist…

I was not an athlete growing up. Didn't do much in organized sports. But all three of my kids play a team sport. It does wonders for them. I really helped them get out of the pandemic. But having them outside several hours a week, working with peers and other adults, practicing new skills. Really cool to see and I think it really helped their mental health (and by extension, my own).

Re: World Happiness Report 2026

#48

Post by girvo »

dismalaf wrote: post #39
throw0101d wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Canada here. Feels like we're barely hanging on to rung 5 or 6 and about to fall to the bottom. The Missing Middle podcast went into this in a recent episode, and it's age-dependent: older folks are happier (i.e., they have purchased homes), while younger folks are less happy (cost of living). We Canadians basically have age-dependent wealth-class nowadays. * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dizaUBC22o4&t=4m13s

The fact boomers have it so good yet our ranking is dropping like a rock tells you just how bad it is for the working class, especially those who don't have government jobs...

It’s the same in Australia. And they will live for another few decades most likely, so this only gets worse as far as I can tell.

While the government removes all the benefits boomers and Gen X got to use to build their wealth, ensuring the ladder is firmly pulled up behind them.

Re: World Happiness Report 2026

#49

Post by applfanboysbgon »

9rx wrote: post #28
SECProto wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also Canada, and I disagree pretty strongly with your post. Those two statistics have little bearing on happiness. Housing costs and healthcare access are much bigger concerns.

They are concerns, but not all that closely tied to happiness. Research shows time and time again that deep social connection is the key, if you will, to happiness. And today's Canadians aren't that great at being social: "In 1986, about one in two Canadians saw their friends on an average day. Now, only about one in five do." — https://www.cbc.ca/radio/nowornever/maintain-friendship-conn...

> Research shows time and time again that deep social connection is the key, if you will, to happiness.

Research suggests it, but it does not show it. Psychological research is notoriously unscientific, with most studies not even being replicable because humans are extremely complex and it's basically impossible to design any kind of methodology that concretely controls for all variables, all the more so when we have things like 'ethics' that make it even harder to do controlled resaerch.

It is absolutely possible to be happy without deep social connection. I am an absolute misanthrope, I seriously hate every one of you bastards, but I'm pretty damn happy. The key to my happiness is that I live a comfortable life and have the freedom to spend it creating (and consuming) things I love - art, music, games, software. If I had to instead spend my days labouring on a farm, if I didn't have indoor plumbing and air conditioning, didn't have access to healthcare and stability and security, etc. I would be absolutely miserable. My happiness is only possible due to the great economic conditions and sensible policies of my country.

Re: World Happiness Report 2026

#50

Post by 9rx »

applfanboysbgon wrote: post #49
9rx wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are concerns, but not all that closely tied to happiness. Research shows time and time again that deep social connection is the key, if you will, to happiness. And today's Canadians aren't that great at being social: "In 1986, about one in two Canadians saw their friends on an average day. Now, only about one in five do." — https://www.cbc.ca/radio/nowornever/maintain-friendship-conn...

> Research shows time and time again that deep social connection is the key, if you will, to happiness. Research suggests it, but it does not show it. Psychological research is notoriously unscientific, with most studies not even being replicable because humans are extremely complex and it's basically impossible to design any kind of methodology that concretely controls for all variables, all the more so when we have…

> It is absolutely possible to be happy without deep social connection.

Well, of course it is. No matter what you think it is that brings happiness to the general population, there will be at least someone who doesn't find happiness in it. There are always outliers.

> If I had to instead spend my days labouring on a farm

Farms are where you find the intersection of all cool tech. I have to wonder how someone who enjoys creating and consuming software would dislike working on a farm. But to each their own.

Post reply on HN