Happy?


Mari wrote on her blog about the World Map of Happiness but - Japan (and other Asian countries) ended up rather low in the rankings. Any ideas why this may be the case? Why is Japan ranked so low?

Sweden ranked 7, which is nice, and the number one spot went to Denmark:

1.Denmark
2.Switzerland
3.Austria
4.Iceland
5.Bahamas
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Bhutan
9. Brunei
10. Canada

19. Norway, 23. US, 41. UK

68.Taiwan
82.China
90.Japan
103.South Korea
125.India

The map is based on an analysis of the results from over 100 studies. It uses data published by by UNESCO, the CIA, the New Economics Foundation, the WHO, the Veenhoven Database, the Latinbarometer, the Afrobarometer, and the UNHDR.

Comments

Pandabonium said…
No offense to city dwellers, but I love living in a farming community in Japan. However, if I have to go into Tokyo for any reason, I can only take it for about a day. The high noise levels, crowds, traffic, air pollution, and lack of natural environmental elements overwhelms me and I can't wait to get out of there.
12:03 pm, August 02, 2006
Martin J Frid said…
We even had a smog warning today here in Saitama, so when you say "get out of there" I have to assume you want to go a lot further away...

One of the mysteries of big cities in Japan is that the people forgot to plant trees and make room for parks. I do think greenery is essential for making people a little more happy.
7:06 pm, August 04, 2006
Pandabonium said…
I think most of the cities of Europe are more human friendly.

Today it was even smoggy here in Kashima. I live only a few kilometers from the ocean and usually the prevailing wind keeps the air clean, but not today. It reminded me of my youth in southern California. Cough.

By "get of there" I meant to get back here to the farming area where I live, where I am surrounded by trees and vegetable fields, don't need ear protection, know most of the people I see, and can listen to the cicadas and bush warblers.
8:49 pm, August 04, 2006
Martin J Frid said…
Wow, the rice must be doing really well now in this heat...
9:58 pm, August 04, 2006
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