'Yes' and 'You bet' would seem to be the answer.
A new study reports that Denmark is the 'happiest place on earth'.
Adrian White from the University of Leicester in the UK used the responses of 80,000 people worldwide to map out subjective wellbeing.
Denmark came top, followed closely by Switzerland and Austria.
So western Europe captures the top three spots!
Iceland was fourth! So great weather is not necessary.
Mr White, who is an analytic social psychologist at the university, said: "When people are asked if they are happy with their lives, people in countries with good healthcare, a higher GDP [gross domestic product] per captia, and access to education were much more likely to report being happy."
But of course, GDP per capita may hide very unequal concentrations. So it would be interesting to see a similar study but correlated with a measure of inequality. But this table shows that Denmark is also THE MOST EQUAL society in the world.
Wow. Most equal. And most happy!
The USA was founded (allegedly) on the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (unless you were non-white or female, in which case you had to hope that white men would be nice to you).
So how does America rank? It doesn't even make the top twenty.
HOW THE NATIONS RANKED ON HAPPINESS
1st - Denmark
2nd - Switzerland
3rd - Austria
4th - Iceland
5th - The Bahamas
6th. Finland
7th. Sweden
8th. Bhutan
9th. Brunei
10th. Canada
19th. Norway
23rd - USA
35th -Germany
41st - UK
90th - Japan
178th - Burundi
Heritage, American Enterprise Institute, Cato, all rightwing ideologues....three words:
YOU. ARE. WRONG!