The World’s Happiest Places

If Scandanavian countries are so happy why do they have the worlds highest suicide rate?

Geez, I tripped the auto mod again. What did I say this time?

@Reid
Only happy people left!

Maybe not. Truth be told I always thought the rest of the world considered our country a very unhappy place. “Too few friends”, little contact with family, fueled by alcohol and self pity… And worst of all not very religious (the horror!).

And now we’re number 2 on that list. Has something changed?

Us Danes might be happy but I remember reading an article that explained how the ranking might not tell the whole truth because of our culture that makes us modest and that people in other countries might rate themselves lower on the happiness scale because they want more of life. But they might actually be happier.
(Hope that made some sort of sense).

From my own experience as a Dane I don’t think we are the happiest people in the world because people in other “warmer” countries seem a lot happier. I have been to 3 of the countries mentioned on the list and live in Denmark and whenever I visit other countries that are supposed to be on the lower end of the scale they seem more open, warmer and friendly. Maybe they keep the sadness inside and us westerners keep our happiness bottled up inside.

I guess I should feel proud to be living in Denmark, but that study doesn’t tell much of the truth in my eyes.

looks like they’ve asked only tourists.. The places listed above are mostly Tourist Destinations.. besides honey moon spots

@Reid of America

Scandinavian countries write the suicide as suicide in official records. In central europe and especially catholic countries It’s common practice to write it down as something else to save the family from social stigma.

@Mulleteer

That reminds me of how it’s like with the Mexican government withholding information about the actually numbers of those who died from the swine flu, or those who have died of malnutrition in North Korea. They are afraid what the people of other countries will think of them.

Hmm, I wonder even what good food and a good night’s sleep has to do with cultural happiness.

http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displayStory.cfm?story_id= 13635801&source=features_box4

“If Scandanavian [sic] countries are so happy why do they have the worlds highest suicide rate?”

This is a myth. No Scandinavian country is even top 10 in suicide, and no country on this list shows up until #13 (Belgium). Denmark is #27.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

People who commit suicide are a very small fraction of the population, and suicide isn’t a strong indicator of how the typical person is doing. Just like how a high fraction of billionaires in your country (e.g. Russia) doesn’t necessarily mean the typical person is rich.

A deeply unhappy person in an unhappy country might feel more “normal,” but a deeply unhappy person in a happy country might feel even more unusual and isolated.

Wow. This is the same list as those Commie Pinko countries with Universal Healthcare.

http://buelahman.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/guess-who-doesnt-live-in-the -happiest-place-in-the-world/

Clearly, “In my pants!”, should have been on the list.

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Congratulations to Canada!
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It’s easy to make your country a “happy” place when there is no demographic change and the nation’s the size of a country club.

these are very rich countries offcourse thank you..

I do find it rather suspicious that the “happiest countries” are all so close together. I’m calling BS on this study.

That’s because they are all ‘snuggling’!

Actually I always check the validity of these polls, who ran them, are they a Danish tourist board, etc.
Turns out that in this case the originating organisation is pretty solid.
http://www.oecd.org/pages/0,3417,en_36734052_36734103_1_1_1_1_1,00.htm l

i think happiness here is defined as more money more happiness, but these countries mentioned here are countries rampant in DIVORCE and SUICIDE and boy if you divorce and commit suicide it means there is unhappiness and discontent. money contributes to happiness but it does not guarantee a happy life as a whole.pardon my English, not my native tongue…