In this suffering world, the month of March has just passed with a day devoted to the subject of happiness.
The event was heralded as the International Day of Happiness, a global celebration coordinated by nonprofit Action for Happiness in 160 supported by a partnership of like-minded organizations. It was in celebration of the event that the United Nations made available the publication of its 2016 World Happiness Report that revealed astounding results of a survey of people in 157 countries.
The survey report gave revealing insights into how “the most cheer most cheerful countries got their way and the richest countries are got that way.”
The ranking in the survey was based on parameters that included the participating country’s per – capita gross domestic product (which accounted for more than 30 percent of the total), social support (26 percent), healthy life expectancy (18 percent), freedom to make life choices (12 percent), generosity (8 percent), and the absence of corruption (5 percent).
Of the 157 countries surveyed in the report, the United States ranked 13th garnering a score of 7.104 on a 10-point score. Denmark was number one on the list with a score of 7.526 and the least happy, Burundi,a landlocked country in the African Great Lakes region of East Africa.
Americans are not exactly unhappy, but there’s room for improvement, according to some observers.
Happy Filipinos: The Philippines ranks 82nd among 157 countries studied by the United Nations on happiness as part of a research which was released coinciding with the International Day of Happiness for the month of March. Notwithstanding a series of calamities, that struck the island paradise in recent years the Filipinos’ fatalism, hardiness and bamboo-like pliancy contribute to moving forward and maintain that happy image they are known for.. Philippine-based entertainers like the bunch pictured here are almost always assured of a happy reception from their happy kababayan who are happy as to see them.
Charge the ranking on the fierce individualism of the Americans. The U.S. mostly leaves the poor to fend for themselves which is not likely to happen in the happiest countries.
America has a strong per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) which is one of the primary indicators of the health of the country’s economy. It represents the value of all goods and services produced over a specific period of time. In short, the U.S. economy is so big that it outranks most of the countries on the top 10 in the list. In other categories, however, the U.S. sadly lags behind.
The report noted that a country that focuses primarily on just one aspect of well-being, tends to have a harmful effect on people’s broader sense of happiness. Qatar which ranks 36th on happiness ranking scale has a higher per capita GDP than the U.S.
The U.N. Report noted that when countries single-mindedly pursues economic development but neglects its social and environmental concerns the results can be highly adverse for human well-being and even pose danger to survival.
The top ten in the list were from Nordic countries (a group of countries in Northern Europe which include Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, and the territories of the Aland Islands and the Faroe Islands) have much lower inequality and greater social insurance.
The top ten: Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden.
What about the Asian countries, how did they fare?
The lowest ranking Asian county in the list was Cambodia which occupied 140th position in the study. Taiwan ranked 15th, the best position for Asian community of countries, followed by Singapore (22), Thailand (33), South Korea (5*), Indonesia (79), Laos (102), Bangladesh (110), Cambodia (140). And the Philippines? The Pearl of the Orient country was in the 82nd spot below the mid lower position of the happiest country list.