Who are the happiest people in the world?

Mail & Guardian Online (Africa)
02 February 2005

Copenhagen, Denmark — People in Denmark, Malta and Switzerland are the
happiest in the world according to a new survey, the Berlingske Tidende
newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The trio topped a list of 90 countries where people have been polled
about how they “enjoy their life as a whole”.

The listings in The World Database of Happiness were based on research
conducted for the past 20 years by Professor Ruut Veenhoven at Erasmus
University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

The top trio scored eight on a scale of zero to 10. They were shadowed
by Iceland and Ireland with 7,8, while Ghana’s score of 7,7 put it ahead
of Canada, Guatemala, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Sweden with 7,6.

Ghana’s result may, however, be slightly inflated due to uncertainty
about sampling, and a more accurate score would likely be about six,
Veenhoven said on the database’s website.

Trends in Denmark suggested an increase in life satisfaction, bucking
trends in Switzerland and Malta where it is decreasing.

The Nordic country meets five main criteria for a society that
experiences well-being. It is a high-income country, democratic,
well-governed with a low level of corruption, has a large degree of
personal freedom and is tolerant, Veenhoven said in remarks reported by
the Danish newspaper.

Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova, Zimbabwe and Tanzania were at the bottom of
the list with Tanzania scoring a lowly 3,2.

More than 2 400 general population surveys conducted from 1946 to 2004
in 90 nations were included in the database. — Sapa-DPA

On the net:
The World Database of Happiness

;articleid=196678