Beware, the Ides of March!
The Sunday Feed
For the sixth year in a row, Finland has been named the happiest country in the world in the annual World Happiness Report, which ranks global happiness in more than 150 countries around the world. This report was released on World Happiness Day celebrated on March 20th.
The ranking of the countries is on data from sources like the Gallup World Poll, leveraging six key factors: social support, income, health, freedom , generosity and absence of corruption.
World’s 20 Happiest Countries in 2023
1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Israel
5. Netherlands
6. Sweden
7. Norway
8. Switzerland
9. Luxembourg
10. New Zealand
11. Austria
12. Australia
13. Canada
14. Ireland
15. United States
16. Germany
17. Belgium
18. Czech Republic
19. United Kingdom
20. Lithuania
“Things like relatively generous unemployment benefits and nearly free healthcare help mitigate sources of unhappiness, ensuring that there are fewer people in Finland who are highly unsatisfied with their lives.’’ Says the article.
There are also other factors like the low mortality rate during COVID compared to other countries and the support of the government to people during crisis.
It is not hard to see that one of the major reasons as to why these countries feature on the top of the happiness list is the variable called “population.” The lesser it is, the easier it is for the government to provide benefits.
But what is surprising is the fact that the people of these top countries do not complain even if there is harsh weather conditions during half of the year. Something that would make any fence sitter skew towards unhappiness.
I can talk for Australia. I think most people are not just happy, they are proud to live in a country that goes to several lengths to protect each and every citizen. Australians have very little or nothing to complain about other than the odd interest rate hikes or the fear of running out of toilet paper.
This article also publishes data on which citizens are most unhappy. It puts Afghanistan at the top of the list. However, among the big countries, India tops the list while featuring at number 12. Well, it is country with more than 1400 million people and so statistically it is bound to not feature in the top happy countries.
While India is a country with good weather, fertile agricultural land and rich culture of food and festivals, the growing intensity of political wars covered across hundreds of mainline and social media channels is disrupting peace.
Extreme corruption and ethnic wars will automatically put many African countries at high positions on the unhappiness list.
One factor that cannot be ignored regarding unhappy citizens is the belief that in this world there is no justice. It is often seen that the rich can get away with murder while a farmer in a country like India can be behind bars for stealing a chook because he had no one to bail him.
This is one of the reasons you see a lot of students and prospective migrants being abused by spurious immigration and student agents. You hear and see hundreds of innocent victims being duped by these charlatans.
To conclude, this article is more for the political leaders, businessmen and bureaucrats than individuals. They can study the parameters that make happy countries and replicate them in their own. But to do this you need integrity, courage and love for your country, no matter which country you belong to.
Whereas for those that are looking for greener pastures, my advice to you would be to work with people or companies of repute rather than fall into the traps of conmen. Apart from the financial loss, a bad entry in the books of immigration will close all future doors for you.
John Khalkho: CEO — Dolores Education