Happiest Country on earth?

You'll have to excuse me for the following text, I'm no expert at either the Rhettandlikommunity or English, since I'm new to the forum and english is my second language.

While watching R&L's video about starting your own country. I cought myself thinking;

What is the happiest country in the world?

A friend of mine told me that my country, Sweden, is the happiest country in the world. So I did some research(bopibopbop), and found these articles:

one two three

Sweden is according to these articles at least at the top 5. Denmark is the at the top. And the rest of the top 10 is almost just Europe, to be precise, the northern of Europe. The only non-european countries that is on the top 10 is Canada and Australia.

So my question is, why do you think that your country didn't/did make it to the top?

Have a nice day,

Måns Olof Larsson, Sweden

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K-ModPermalink Reply by Kevin (UniSeal) on January 8, 2014 at 1:41pm

Welcome to the Kommunity! And I think your English is very good, honestly!

I'm from America, and I think that it did not make the list is because many people here are more focused on their own personal happiness than the happiness of others.

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Permalink Reply by Måns Olof Larsson on January 8, 2014 at 3:22pm

True, I have that kinda theory too. Canada, Sweden, Norway and Denmark have the same kind of politics. It's about the population's well-being.

For example:

In America, you pay/have insurance that pays the Hospital bills. But in Sweden, all that is free. It's the same with schools and such.

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K-ModPermalink Reply by Gumbo123 on January 8, 2014 at 4:06pm

NOTHING is ever free. In states / countries where the "government" pays for everything, where do you suppose they get the money from? Ever heard of taxes?

HAPPINESS is relative, so if you live in a country that has enjoyed liberty and personal freedom for a long time you generally become disenchanted with how well things are going. That's why the USA usually languishes outside the top ten on such polls (USA was #11 this year according to the Forbes article you cited). It takes a great deal of improvement in the general quality of living or a huge turnaround in the economy for us to get excited. By contrast, it would not take a whole lot of improvement for the citizens of Tonga to dance for excitement and report to the poll takers that they are 500% happier than they were last time you asked, thank you very much, and vacate the bottom spot in the list.

I'm not making any excuses for the USA, that's just the way it is.

HAPPINESS is based on a HAPPENING . . . so it depends what was going on at the moment in the various countries and lives of the individuals questioned in the poll. If you recieve a raise or promotion at work because you are a productive and valuable employee, you are happy. Two weeks later and the employer locks the doors due to an issue outside your control, you are not happy. Give me a cupcake right now and I'm happy. Dinner time rolls around and I'm running 5 minutes late and all my brothers eat the entire pizza before my arrival . . . not happy.

Forget happiness. I'd much rather have JOY in my life. Please allow me to share a message that I heard recently at our church from Pastor Mike Wellfor your consideration. . .