The Danes top the list, with their regional neighbours, Finland, Norway and Sweden taking the next 3 top spots.

Switzerland is at number 8 - tied with Canada, Australia and erm...Isreal.

Full list and story here:
http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/14/wor...lup-table.html

CH at #8. Fail.

Edit: your changed your glaring mistake but I will leave this here to remind everyone.

Not all of us are as perfect as you are Hash.

I wonder what happened to Vanuatu after a year ? Slump in the GNH ??

Ohhhhhhhh the Australia in Asia. I thought the Oceania version would be less happy.....

They were quite happy to be considered as Asia for the World Cup qualifiers

Why .."erm Israel" ? Are they not allowed to be in the same category as the other countries?

Are the Nordic countries over represented because all the depressed people committed suicide?



http://fathersforlife.org/health/who_suicide_rates.htm

I always thought Sweden and Finland had very high suicide rates (especially in winter)

1 Denmark Europe 82 17 1 7.9
2 Finland Europe 75 23 2 7.8
3 Norway Europe 69 31 0 7.9
4 Sweden Europe 68 30 2 7.9
4 Netherlands Europe 68 32 1 7.7
6 Costa Rica Americas 63 35 2 8.1

hahahaha! it's true- we are happy! and honestly compared to the average person in the top 8 countries the lifestyle is drastically different. when ever i go back to visit i see the difference in people faces, even people see the difference here with me bc i smile alot.

frankly, those i know from the top four countries don't seem like particularly happy people... maybe it's just their level of enthusiasm?

__________________
'there isn't enough of anything as long as we live.
but at intervals a sweetness appears and, given a chance prevails'

strange list....Hong Kong and Singapore at 81! Guess you can't make people smile.

How so? We didn't win the world cup

No fail, but the fact that the Swiss are self-critical and reluctant to assume anything for granted

"Oceania" is just a remote area of Asia, and it being a continent is in reality a bit doubtful. Possibly just invented by the British Empire to keep the inhabitants of the dominions happy

So that the survivors in summer, enjoying the sensational lenghts of sunshine, are so happy to have survived

This in reality is a difficult question. I in my youth smiled far more than now. Just out of my personal understanding of the word. But, as I realized that this was MIS understood, concentrated on looking "neutral" .

Now, at the other hand, many (most??) Far East erners smile all the time, but it is not a happy or humourous smile, but just a "keep-face" smile, and so to me is not a real smile at all. People around the Mediterranean smile less but the Med-smile is genuine, and part of the Savoir-Vivre. And smiling in Africa is far more on the Med-side than on the keep-face-side of the Far East.

Note how men commit suicide so much more than women (except China).
Could there be some connection there?

interesting link:
http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworl...evelopment.htm
Switzerland is rated #11

Must leave a lot of widows...

Total number of depressed men is similar to total number of depressed woman but more men are likely to commit suicide than women because of the cognitive differences.
Seasonal depression is very common in some areas...
I might need to buy the lux box for light therapy when winter comes....