Survey: Danes are the Happiest; Germans not too Miserable
July 29, 2006
Friday's study, published by a University of Leicester academic who produced a World Map of Happiness, showed seven of the top 10 happiest countries were Western democracies, with the Bahamas, Bhutan and Brunei being the exceptions.
The United States ranks 23rd, Germany comes in at number 35, Britain ranks 41st, and France came in at 62nd.
"When people are asked if they are happy with their lives, people in countries with good health care, a higher GDP (gross domestic product) per capita, and access to education were much more likely to report being happy," said Adrian White, the social psychologist who carried out the study.
"The frustrations of modern life, and the anxieties of the age, seem to be much less significant compared to the health, financial and educational needs in other parts of the world."
At the bottom came the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and Burundi.
White's analysis was based on the findings of more than 100 different studies questioning 80,000 people around the world.
In the survey, the top 10 happiest places were: 1. Denmark, 2. Switzerland, 3. Austria, 4. Iceland, 5. Bahamas, 6. Finland, 7. Sweden, 8. Bhutan, 9. Brunei, 10. Canada
The survey follows another earlier this month that said the tiny South Pacific Ocean archipelago of Vanuatu was the happiest country on Earth.