Canada among the 10 happiest countries in the world
Canada among the 10 happiest countries in the world
A Canadian Maple Leaf flag flies near the Peace tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Take a sweater or something warm if you visit the world’s happiest countries. The Top 5 — including Canada — are all snowy, wintry nations.
Only the slightest of margins separates Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Canada in the top ranks of the United Nations’ World Happiness Report released Thursday.
All of the happiest countries are rich, although only three of the Top 10 overlap with the 10 wealthiest countries based on gross domestic product per capita — Switzerland, Norway and Australia.
The idea behind the report is that well-being is determined by more than just wealth, and that improving life satisfaction or happiness ought to be a consideration in public policy-making.
But aside from the fun provided by seeing which countries are happier than others — and yes, the United States has yet to crack the Top 10 and remains just below Mexico at #15 — this year’s report provides new evidence supporting the claim that happiness matters.
Iceland was slammed in the 2008 global recession. Its banking system collapsed, the stock market plunged by more than 90 per cent and the country was on the verge of bankruptcy. Unemployment tripled, pensions and wages were cut.
Yet, after all of that, Icelanders rated their life satisfaction higher after the recession than before. That increased happiness bounced the country from 9th place to second on the happiness ranking.
The percentage of Icelanders who report that they have someone to count on in times of crisis is the highest in the world.
Ireland ranks second only to Iceland in that category. It, too, was hard hit by the recession, and happiness remained constant along with Ireland’s 18th-place ranking.
By contrast, the economies of Greece, Italy and Spain also tanked and all three had a significant drop in happiness — losses “greater than could be explained by macroeconomic factors,” according to the report.
Greece’s ranking dropped to 102 from 70 and now ranks below such poor countries as Laos, Mongolia and Swaziland.
The crisis provided “a test of the underlying social fabric,” the report says in a chapter co-written by Vancouver economist John Helliwell.
“If the fabric is sufficiently strong, then the crisis may even lead to a higher subjective well-being, in part by giving people a chance to work together towards good purpose and to realize and appreciate the strength of their mutual social support; and in part because the crisis will be better handled,” the report says.
Canada among the 10 happiest countries in the world
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