Hi Everyone

I read an interesting article yesterday that I wanted to post, but got into other things and forgot. Thankfully I was able to find it today.

In essence it is a survey that they have been doing since 1981 about happiness that shows people worldwide are happier today than they were 25 years ago. That's good news and a reality I like to read/hear about.

Survey finds more happiness globally
Combined News Services
11:29 PM EDT, July 1, 2008

The world is getting happier. That's according to the U.S. government-funded World Values Survey, done regularly by a global network of social scientists, which finds the United States ranks number 16 compared against 96 other countries in happiness levels.

Data from the latest version of the global survey, released in the July issue of the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, finds overall more people are happier today than was the case 25 years ago.

The survey found increased happiness from 1981 to 2007 in 45 of 52 countries analyzed. Denmark tops the list of surveyed nations, along with Colombia and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

A dozen other countries, including Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada and Sweden also rank above the United States, which maintains about the same relative position as it did in WVS's 2000 survey.



Researchers responsible for the analysis, from the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research (ISR) in Ann Arbor, say the overall rise in reported happiness is due to greater economic growth, democratization and social tolerance.

"I strongly suspect that there is a strong correlation between peace and happiness," said Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist at the institute who directed the study. Though by no means the happiest country in the world, from a global perspective the U.S. looks pretty good," says Inglehart. "The country is not only prosperous; it ranks relatively high in gender equality, tolerance of ethnic and social diversity and has high levels of political freedom."

And, he said, there is a strong correlation between happiness and democracy.

Happiness was measured by simply asking people how happy they were and how satisfied they were with their lives as a whole.

Ninety-seven percent of respondents -- a remarkably high response rate -- gave answers that strongly correlated with how satisfied they were with various aspects of life such as gender equality and tolerance of minorities.

Countries whose respondents reported high levels of happiness were much likelier to be democracies than were countries that rank lower in terms of their citizens' happiness.

And while money might not let you buy happiness, as the adage goes, the research findings would seem to suggest wealth certainly helps. Three of the world's poorer countries with histories of repressive government -- Moldova, Armenia and Zimbabwe -- are at the bottom of the list.

Virtually all of the lowest ranking nations struggle with legacies of authoritarian rule and widespread poverty. The analysis was paid for by the National Science Foundation. The survey, first done in 1981, has kept to two simple 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?" Researchers said they surveyed 350,000 people.

"Ultimately, the most important determinant of happiness is the extent to which people have free choice in how to live their lives," Inglehart said.