Happy Countries

Heading up the happiness scale is Denmark, thanks to its wealth, natural beauty, small population size, quality education, and good health care.

Other countries who rated were: Switzerland (2), Austria (3), Iceland (4), Bahamas (5), Finland (6), Sweden (7), Bhutan (8), Brunei (9) and Canada (10), the Netherlands (15), Malaysia (17), Norway (19), United Arab Emirates (22), USA (23), Vanuatu (24), Australia (26), Saudi Arabia (31), Germany (35), Kuwait (38), Great Britain (41), Qatar (45), Spain (46), France (62), Hong Kong (63), Indonesia (64), Thailand (76), the Philippines (78), China (82), Japan (90), South Africa (109), India (125), Pakistan (166), and Russia (167).

The study pulled together from worldwide sources and surveys found that good health care and education are as important as wealth to modern happiness

The researches used a battery of statistical data, plus the subjective responses of 80,000 people worldwide, to map out well-being across 178 countries.

Not surprisingly, the countries that are happiest are those that are healthy, wealthy, and wise. Population size also plays a role (Note that countries with a high level of happiness have almost negative population growth. Having children clearly does not influence a person’s happiness).

Smaller countries with greater social cohesion and a stronger sense of national identity tended to score better, while those with the largest populations fared worse. China came in No. 82, India ranked 125, and Russia was 167. The U.S. came in at 23.

Good health may be the key to happiness, but money helps open the door. Wealthier countries, such as Switzerland (2) and Luxembourg (10) scored high on the index. Not surprisingly, most African countries, which have little of either; scored poorly. Zimbabwe, which has an AIDS rate of 25%, an average life expectancy of 39, and an 80% poverty rate, ranked near the bottom at 177. Meanwhile, the conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis gave fellow Africans in Burundi, ranked 178, even less to smile about, despite their having a slightly lower poverty rate of 68%.

Capitalism, meanwhile, fared quite well. Free-market systems are sometimes blamed for producing unhappiness due to insecurity and competition, but the U.S. was No. 23 and all the top-ranking European countries are firmly capitalist—albeit of a social-democratic flavor.


For the people of the Philippines, family, health, and religion are the three most important sources of happiness.

In the world happiness ranking, the Philippines scored average. The country’s rating was pulled down generally by overpopulation and malnutrition. This is actually a cue for Filipinos to seriously implement birth control because overpopulation is straining our natural environment, food and financial reserves, as well as our sanity --- in this case, MORE is definitely NOT BETTER.

A study, conducted by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), shows that Filipinos ranked family as the most important source of happiness, giving it a score of 9.45 on a scale of 1 to 10 (In countries ranking high in the happiness scale, close intimate relationships are top priority... whether family or friends) . Health came next, with a score of 8.95, while religion ranked third with 8.59 (Note that countries that score high on the happiness scale are mostly secular. This means that social interaction and a sense of belonging are dominant factors to happiness rather than religion).

Other important sources of happiness include friends (8.57), financial security (8.3), education (8.25), love life (8.2), and work (7.94).

The NSCB survey showed that politics was the least important source of happiness, with a score of 5.84. Other unimportant domains of happiness are cultural activities (5.88), community and volunteer work (6.24), and government (6.53).

In terms of level of happiness, the study by the NSCB also found that Filipinos were happy with their family life, with a happiness index rating of 88.5%. They were also happy with their friends (83.6%), religion (79.8%) and love life (79.4%).

The NSCB study also found that people were happier “with domains that are within their control than those not within their control like politics” and that 6 out of
10 respondents thought that progress was synonymous with happiness.

The study revealed that women were happier than men, and that happiness increased with income.

The study by the National Statistical Coordination Board was based on a non-random poll of 167 respondents conducted during the National Convention on Statistics held in the beginning of October 2007.

Non-random sampling meant that the Board only gave out the questionnaires to those who wanted to answer it during the convention without a specific target group in mind, according to Jessamyn Encarnacion of the NSCB’s Social Statistics Office and co-author of the paper titled Measuring Progress of Philippine Society: Gross National Product or Gross National Happiness.

The factors that the questionnaire listed were: family, friends, religion, love life, health, education, sex life, work, leisure and sports, community and volunteer work, technological know-how, income and financial security, cultural activities, environment, economy, government, and politics.

In similar surveys, researchers found that societies with people who are more expressive and open with their feelings; those who are given freedom of choice and freedom to be their natural selves are happier.