Posted on 05/22/2012 7:14:11 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Many of these countries are just plain eaten up by Muslims. I find the results difficult to believe.
Of these, I’d pick Australia to retire to.
Canada is just too COLD and the rest are just too liberal.
Compare similar cultural groups (American’s with Swedish, Norwegian, or Swiss roots, and I bet you will find the index to be comparable.
I notice nothing on the survey to compare freedom of action, to keep what you earn and dispose of it how you wish.
These surveys are designed to make particular political points.
It seems odd to me that of these 10 “happiest” countries, only two (Israel and The Netherlands) have suicide rates that are lower than the US. (See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate)
The definition of “happy” varies widely. Which nation is “happiest” is more a matter of what percentage of residents achieve _their_ definition of happy, not whether demographic statistics adhere to a Western Leftist’s definition thereof.
Oh please. We have higher disposable income than any of these nations and hence we have more purchasing power than any of these nations and in fact many cases we have much higher purchasing power than countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, and Israel.
Israel is seriously on this list? They are constantly under the threat of terrorist attacks. So much death of innocents because of the radical Muslim animals, and they make the list of happiest countries? Something is wrong with this list.
It’s interesting to note that these ‘happiest’ countries also happen to be the coutries which burden their people with the highest levels of tax, Denmark having the highest levels of income tax in the world.
I suspect it’s socialist sheep mentality - they think they are happy because their government keeps most of their money and decides how to spend it for them, relieving them of the burden of personal responsibility. Likewise the countries with the highest levels of disposable income such as the US and UK always come lower down on these surveys, but I know where I’d rather be.
Life is hard...harder when you’re stupid.
Too many stupid people in america...they are dragging down our average.
RE: I’d pick Australia to retire to. Canada is just too COLD and the rest are just too liberal.
You must be really wealthy ....
1) Australia now has one of the most expensive real estate in the world ( due to her strong currency which has APPRECIATED tremendously vs the USD ).
2) John Howard ( a conservative ), was Prime Minister for close to 10 years and made Australia very competitive ( with low debt and excellent fiscal policies ). Then, the Labor Party took over ( via a slim margin ).
Who knows what will happen next? The current PM, a woman ( Julia Gillard ) is an atheist, a pro-choicer, and isn’t even married to the man she is living with.
RE: Israel is seriously on this list? They are constantly under the threat of terrorist attacks.
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It says in the article:
Despite the constant security concerns in the country, the homicide rate in Israel is in line with the OECD’s average of 2.1 murders per 100,000 people.
Israeli's are very proud and have a working democracy. Threats of physical harm do not deter them from living life to its fullest. You should go there it can be very insprational on many levels. I like that country alot.
One of numerous confounders I thought of was how much of the listed representative populations are on anti-depressants.
You must be really wealthy ....
Hardly!
I’m not hurting, but I’m not wealthy by any means!
I just figured, if this country keeps going the way it is, I should start looking for somewhere else to settle.
Lots of people are happiest when taken care of from cradle to grave, with other people’s money.
RE: I just figured, if this country keeps going the way it is, I should start looking for somewhere else to settle.
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OK, let me tell you my personal experience. When I was much younger, I applied to and was approved to get Australian residency. I lived and worked there for 5 years before coming back to the USA.
It was then called the SKILLED LABOR Migration program and is still in existence today. At that time, high tech jobs were in demand. Today, I hear that skilled technicians, especially for the mining industry is in high demand.
Australia (unlike the USA) has a more reasonable immigration policy where SKILLED LABOR and Wealthy individuals (those with the potential to create jobs and who won’t be a burden to their system ) are welcome.
When you apply for migration, you are SCORED based on a POINTS SYSTEM. Unfortunately, the older you are (and if you cannot show that you have the financial means to take care of yourself ), your points are most likely going to be low and your chances of being accepted, also low.
That’s just my experience.
A little more seriously, you have to look very closely at the weighting factors of any of these surveys. I dug deeply into a heavily reported one about which countries had the best medical care. If you scrape away all of the camouflage, it came down to which countries had the most socialized and "fair" health care. It mattered little whether you survived cancer or a heart attack, just so long as the government picked up the tab for your life or death. A country where half the population could afford good care and the other half couldn't would be ranked lower than one where just about no one could afford that care.
Sorry, it was many years ago (maybe when Hillarycare was announced) and I don't remember all the details.
These countries have in common high scores on the secular-rational dimension, on the self actualization dimension, and in prosperity.
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!
Give me an hour or two to come up with some suitable survey questions and I'll show you that North Korea and Zimbabwe are the two happiest nations on earth.
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