Despite worldwide anxieties, a new survey has found that happiness is on the rise around the world.
The results will be published July 2008 issue of the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. Researchers have asked the same two questions "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?" for an average of 17 years in 52 countries in the survey that involved 350,000 people.
University of Michigan political scientist Ronald Inglehart, who headed up the survey, found that Denmark is the happiest nation and Zimbabwe the most glum, while The United States ranked 16th. Zimbabwe's longtime ruler Robert Mugabe was sworn in as president for a sixth term, after a shady and violent campaign.
America doesn’t rank higher on the happiness list because Baby Boomers are unhappy and Americans are of the general opinion that their country is “on the wrong track.”
The increase in happiness is attributed to better economic standings in poor countries as well as democratization in others and better social acceptance of minorities and women.
"It's a surprising finding," said Inglehart, "It's widely believed that it's almost impossible to raise an entire country's happiness level."
According to Inglehart, it is generally thought that happiness doesn’t change and is inherited by previous generations, not to mention that money doesn’t buy happiness.
Yet people in developed countries are happier than those in poor countries and some societies are happier than others.
No comments:
Post a Comment