A new study of more than 65 countries published in the UK's New Scientist magazine suggests that the happiest people in the world live in Nigeria - and the least happy, in Romania.

People in Latin America, Western Europe and North America are happier than their counterparts in Eastern Europe and Russia.


HAPPINESS AROUND THE WORLD

•The happiest
•Nigeria
•Mexico
•Venezuela
•El Salvador
•Puerto Rico
•The least happy
•Russia
•Armenia
•Romania Source: New Scientist
Nigeria has the highest percentage of happy people followed by Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador and Puerto Rico, while Russia, Armenia and Romania have the fewest.

But factors that make people happy may vary from one country to the next with personal success and self-expression being seen as the most important in the US, while in Japan, fulfilling the expectations of family and society is valued more highly.

The survey appears to confirm the old adage that money cannot buy happiness.


PATH TO HAPPINESS

•Genetic propensity to happiness
•Marriage
•Make friends and value them
•Desire less
•Do someone a good turn
•Have faith (religious or not)
•Stop comparing your looks with others
•Earn more money
•Grow old gracefully
•Don't worry if you're not a genius
The researchers for World Values Survey described the desire for material goods as "a happiness suppressant".

They say happiness levels have remained virtually the same in industrialised countries since World War II, although incomes have risen considerably.

The exception is Denmark, where people have become more satisfied with life over the last three decades.

The study was carried out in 1999-2001 and published for the first time by New Scientist this week.

Consumerism

Researchers believe the unchanging trend is linked to consumerism.

"New Zealand ranked 15 for overall satisfaction, the US 16th, Australia 20th and Britain 24th - although Australia beats the other three for day-to-day happiness," New Scientist says.

The survey is a worldwide investigation of socio-cultural and political change conducted about every four years by an international network of social scientists.

It includes questions about how happy people are and how satisfied they are with their lives.

Although such surveys are not new, they are being increasingly taken into account by policy makers, the magazine says.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/3157570.stm

Published: 2003/10/02 11:08:55 GMT

Reading the above publication from 2003, I wonder if the situation is still the same today. Are we still the happiest people on earth? or we are just deceiving ourselves. Are you a happy Nigerian?

Most of the happiest are the poor nations. Goes to show that money doesnt bring happiness. Factors such as family value matter.

Well it also depends on how the research was done ; i.e who asked the question and who was asked.

You know that most Nigerians are ecstatic to be interviewed by foreigners; so yes, they'd prolly answer "Yes, I am happy" lmao. [sarcasm]

Still shuffering and shmilling!

I wonder what benchmark is used on such a crappy survey!. .

Ileke-IdI:

Most of the happiest are the poor nations. Goes to show that money doesnt bring happiness. Factors such as family value matter.

Well it also depends on how the research was done ; i.e who asked the question and who was asked.

You know that most Nigerians are ecstatic to be interviewed by foreigners; so yes, they'd prolly answer "Yes, I am happy" lmao. [sarcasm]

Nah!!! I think you are wrong with this one. This is no case of the poor being happier or the sort. That survey made no sense at all back in 2003 and the years have only gone to show how seriously flawed they were.

Notice how the countries that top that list also happen to be some of the most nations of the world? I mean look again at the list? 

By the way, have you looked up the list after 2003? Have you looked at the 2010 list ?

http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/14/world-happiest-countries-lifestyle-realestate-gallup-table.html

Table: The World's Happiest Countries
Francesca Levy, 07.14.10, 05:00 PM EDT
By and large, rich countries are happier--and that's no coincidence.



Quantifying happiness isn't an easy task. Researchers at the Gallup World Poll went about it by surveying thousands of respondents in 155 countries, between 2005 and 2009, in order to measure two types of well-being.

First they asked subjects to reflect on their overall satisfaction with their lives, and ranked their answers using a "life evaluation" score from 1 to 10. T[b]hen they asked questions about how each subject had felt the previous day. Those answers allowed researchers to score their "daily experiences"--things like whether they felt well-rested, respected, free of pain and intellectually engaged. [/b]Subjects that reported high scores were considered "thriving." The percentage of thriving individuals in each country determined our rankings.

ROFLMAO!

Yea they were happy until they found out the big Magilla Gorilla Obasanjo was staying as Presidido.

There is just something very unique about the Nigerian psyche, I think. Maybe all the religion in the land?

For example, if you made an X-Y plot of GDP per capita versus happiness (as measured by say this survey), I suspect that happiness levels are going to be far higher in Nigeria than in our economic peers.

Anyway, this is not a bad thing; I think optimism is certainly preferable to pessimism in a national psyche.

DapoBear:

Anyway, this is not a bad thing; I think [b]optimism [/b]is certainly preferable to pessimism in a national psyche.

Optimism is what you call it? May I suggest you look up the meaning of that word in the dictionary to understand why it is not the case here? Optimistic people usually act according to that belief. Is that the case with your sample you are referring to there?

Kobojunkie:

Optimism is what you call it? May I suggest you look up the meaning of that word in the dictionary to understand why it is not the case here? Optimistic people usually act according to that belief. Is that the case with your sample you are referring to there?

ROTFLMAO!

Nigerians are happy because they are are very gaullible; They would remain happy as long as they keep getting fake promises of better tomorrow from their corrupt leaders and fake prophets! Get real.

Can we help it? We are bound to be happy down here, after all the laughter over bottles of shine shine bobo and fresh fish with pretty bitchesses to go with it.
We are not worried about depression as that word is not in our dictionary. Climate change dont worry us as our ice has not started melting. Hurricane Hulk (is that the current one?) dont know our address.

Kobojunkie:

Optimism is what you call it? May I suggest you look up the meaning of that word in the dictionary to understand why it is not the case here? Optimistic people usually act according to that belief. Is that the case with your sample you are referring to there?  

I'm pretty confused, and do not see your point. Would you still disagree with my statement if I replaced "optimism" with "happiness"?

tredkiller:

Nigerians are happy because they are are very gaullible; They would remain happy as long as they keep getting fake promises of better tomorrow from their corrupt leaders and fake prophets! Get real.

'Gullible' you mean? Dont worry, the fake prophets always do some miracles and one of their miraculous feats is keeping us happy always.

DapoBear:

I'm pretty confused, and do not see your point. Would you still disagree with my statement if I replaced "optimism" with "happiness"?

Here you can get a good idea why the word OPTIMISM does not apply in the case you refer to  . . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimism

As for replacing optimism with happiness, go right ahead if you feel that replacing it will make you feel better. I am not in anyway stating that there are no happy Nigerians out there but to conclude that the nation as a whole is happy, is to feign ignorance of the true problems we have as a nation.

Why shouldn't they be happy when they can get their free meat from beached dead whales!  

I don't have any agenda one way or another, Kobojunkie. Please state your point clearly. From what I infer, you disagree with the results of the survey, that Nigerians in 2003 were in fact not the happiest people in the world?

What is your evidence for this? Keep in mind that happiness is relative; even if you do not think Nigerians are/were particularly happy, they only have to be happier than those of other nations.

Do you think their methodology is flawed? Why do you not believe the result of their study?

tredkiller:

Why shouldn't they be happy when they can get their free meat from beached dead whales!  

You say this jokingly, but this is part of why I think it is true. Nigerans somehow revel in any good thing that happens to them and are VERY quick to forget bad things. Bad things they just brush off. You sort of see what I'm saying? Even jobless Nigerians don't quite give up, they have the strong belief that tomorrow will yield a better day.

Contrast this with a country like Japan, where people are EXTREMELY pessimistic about life. They think that their country is worse off than it was before, that their men are weaker and more impotent, that there is no point in doing anything because life won't get better, etc. Suicide rates there are pretty high.

And do I need to bring up Russia, where they have negative population growth, an entire country of alcoholics, massive suicide and depression rates?

Yet how often does suicide happen in a place like Nigeria? Nigerians love life too much to really consider that.

Hell, or even think about the garbage that Nigerians put up with in politics and the economy. Bad roads, no light for what, 40+ years now? Sh!!t like that would make me freak out and go insane. But Nigerians have mostly accepted it, and don't let it destroy their happiness.

Even here in America, I think we find it easier to remember the evil that befalls us rather than the good. But I think in naija the opposite is true.

tredkiller:

Why shouldn't they be happy when they can get their free meat from beached dead whales!  

Abi oo my man, while those too far to chop were comitting suicide on our behalf and working their heartbeats up to hypertensive levels. We will remain happy jare.

Happiness is all about one's attitude towards life in general. I am sure my ancestors were happier than I am, yet they were less priviledged.