The 2018 World Happiness Report is out, and the US ranks the lowest that it's even been, dropping from 18th place to 19th place. The top spots are again dominated this year by Nordic countries - in order, Finland (finishing first once again), Denmark (2), Norway (3), Iceland (4), Netherlands (5), Switzerland (6), Sweden (7), New Zealand (8), Canada (9), Austria (10), Australia (11), Costa Rica (12), Israel (13), Luxembourg (14), United Kingdom (15), Ireland (16), Germany (17), Belgium (18), and the United States (19). Even the Brexit-divided UK finished higher this year than the US. Low water marks in the US for 2018 include Social Support (37th place), Perception of Corruption (42nd place) and overall Freedom (61st place).
The US remains world’s wealthiest nation, and although US prosperity is rising, other cited negative contributors to its declining Happiness Index score were obesity, suicide rates, and substance abuse - all a possible byproduct of a broken health care system. All countries in the top 20 had some form of universal healthcare, except for the US ( Truthdig ):
The U.S. has had, by now, two startling wake-up calls: back to back years of falling life expectancy and declining measured subjective well-being,” wrote Jeffrey Sachs, economist and co-author of the report. “Major studies have documented the rising suicide rates and substance misuse . . . A public policy response built around well-being rather than corporate profits would place the rising addiction rates under intensive and urgent scrutiny, and would design policies to respond to these rising challenges.
Happiness Scores (2018)
New Zealand (8) is proof that social catastrophe can happen in the very highest ranking countries, but a distinction is made with regards to citizens feelings of powerlessness in the face of such catastrophes. “What stands out about the happiest and most well connected societies is their resilience and ability to deal with bad things,” [economist and report author John F.] Helliwell told CNN.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern led her country through a period of mourning following the attack on two mosques last week by expressing support and love for the Muslim community, condemning white nationalism, and vowing to reform gun laws.
By contrast, the U.S. government has for decades been unwilling to take concrete action to avoid mass shootings while President Donald Trump has openly sympathized with white supremacists following their violent attacks in the United States.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
Many Democrat Socialist oriented countries finished at the very top (Finland (1), Denmark (2), Norway (3), Iceland (4), and Netherlands (5)) all of which have strong social welfare systems.
It’s true that last year all Finns were happier than rest of the countries’ residents, but their immigrants were also happiest immigrants in the world, . . . Helliwell told CNN. It’s not about Finnish DNA. It’s the way life is lived in those countries.
Congratulations to the West African nation of Togo, which has risen 17 places since 2015. The biggest drop on record in the 2018 Happiness Report is Venezuela, down 2.2 points from their position in 2017. More on the World Happiness Report from Wikipedia.
What national metric could possibly be more important than the happiness of its people? A sad situation — can we not do better?
