I'm not convinced that these sorts of surveys are meaningful. For example, GDP per capita: it would seem to me that it would be also important to consider how that wealth is distributed (gini coefficient), in the hands of a very wealthy few or more evenly spread. We also know that there is a point at which more wealth does not equal more happiness... the curve flattens out. I doubt that's been considered. And what about things like crime rate and personal safety. That seems to be missing. People Singapore, for example, have less political freedom than Americans (and Singapore is much further down on the list), but they don't have to worry about gun crime and a woman can walk the streets alone past midnight without fearing for her safety. So one really has to ask oneself, the people of which country truly have freedom...  

48 minutes ago, whaleboneman said:

Germany divided again? They came in at 7th and 13th???

Angie will sort that one out.

Joke of a survey, typical United Nations finger on the pulse.
 

The Finns are always drunk, which might explain their happiness, but nothing can explain the Brits in the top 20, or maybe I'm just reacting to the TV brigade.

Take away the $s per capita criteria, which is not a great indicator, and Thais would be top 10 for sure.

 

Perhaps 'happy' is the wrong word, as happiness is a subjective emotion not controlled by the criteria being considered. Maybe 'content', 'comfortable' or 'fortunate' would be more appropriate, although I prefer 'smug'.

The two in the post pic look very similar to the two women outside a bar in Hua Hin beckoning to me and calling me handsome man.

Maybe NCC has seen them?

I remember watching a 60-minutes story about 15 or so years ago about Finland being a notoriously sad and melancholic country with high suicide rate. Interesting how the survey indicates an about-face turn in the mood of the Finnish people. But then the same survey puts the US in the 19th place which to me is surprisingly high in the current political and social climate.

So it wasn't tear gas it was tears of joy? My mistake.

4 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Well it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll! Whatever happened to the "Land of Smiles?"

land of fake smiles

 

it's essential to know this

Funny enough, if that survey was made exclusively among TV members for Thailand, it would probably rank very last.

shouldn't  that be that its the 54th unhappiest in the world, Finland being the least unhappy? 

29 minutes ago, cyril sneer said:

land of fake smiles

 

it's essential to know this

well you have to hide behind something. 

After more than 12 years among scandinavians, I can, in front of God, and TW users, of course, say that this Scandinavian happyness it totally <deleted>. 

 

Nobody can deny the functionality of nordic societies, but to claim they are the most happy is purely arrogance.

 

They are satisfied.Least unhappy. 

 

Take Danmark, high cancer rates, escalating selfmutilation behaviour among youngsters, stress at alarming levels, around 10% of population on antidepressants. 

Not to mention the dreadful weather, highest taxes in the world. 

 

Yes, free education, almost zero corruption, free healthcare(though not among worlds best, as danes pretend it) 

 

Good, functional societies, with educated people, but dull, lacking spontaneity, extremely law abiding(which makes them easy to control). 

 

Give me around 60% of my wage in south Spain and I am on the next flight. 

 

LE.For me, Finland seems even more sad than Denmark, though never been there, just passed though Helsinki Airport, I could almost feel the saddness in the air.

13 minutes ago, drenddy said:

Nobody can deny the functionality of nordic societies, but to claim they are the most happy is purely arrogance.

If they're that happy, why do so many commit suicide after murdering their families?

Ranking countries based on "happiness" seems so bizarre. Fulfillment, quality of life, etc., maybe. But, how do you measure happiness based on income? Are Americans happy? Finns? Brits? 

Happiness Report - what a load of nonsense.

Immigration is so easy here and foreigners I’m surprise you’re 54TIT

We are in a kind of communication world where it is possible to paid for a "communicated ambassador team" to gain popularity and concern on what ever you paid it for.

So because of that, you can have this kind of situation where you have a poll (paid by who ? When you know who give the money, you know what will be the result) said that Thailand is one of the most happy country in the world and an other one study show that suicide rate is upper by 22% in one year (2019-2020).

So how can it be one of the most happy country with so much suicide in the same time ? Sorry, but... what did you said about freedom ? Is it a joke ? What ever we are thinking about it, we can not deny facts... no one would trust this kind of lie, so better should be to just not speak about all of that, right ?

 

But first, let me complete your investigation job, you not just only forget to talk about the origin of the institute and money origin, but you also forget to pass the source link: the source from the poll ordered by ???

And this is source talking about suicide in Thailand: some numbers around

suicide article concern

Good pension system does not hurt. Can be found in Denmark, Netherland, Finland... Can be 100000 THB vs 500 THB monthly.

23 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Ranking countries based on "happiness" seems so bizarre. Fulfillment, quality of life, etc., maybe. But, how do you measure happiness based on income? Are Americans happy? Finns? Brits? 

i think, they forget everything that can make the rate down, as suicide rate can.

People are very happy, but suicide... it is not just a deny they are doing, but a miss-respect to suicide concerned families.

Happyness is subjective, but those indicators(healthcare, education and so on), not.

Anyways, I must reiterate, it is pure <deleted>....Scandinavians are not the most happy in the world.Of course, they can say that, they can share this perception about their one kind, but, for me, as outsider, it is completely false and, every time, I read about this kind of ratings and hear them ''oh, we are so happy'', for me, is pure arrogance, most of the time, driven by ignorance.

 

At one point, while I debated with some danes about danish healthcare system, ranked not in the best 15(according to a report), they could not accept it, as for them, it implies to be the best in the world, only because it's danish.

 

The only country, I think, they look up to, is Norway.

 

As a side note...The glorious nordic food, NOMA restaurant in Copenhagen, named best in the world, is not even close to traditional danish food, thats purely for tourists.I mean, these people eat chips with potatoes at Christmas dinner.

 

Now, no more rants about the happyiest depressants people in the Universe.

Polls are inherently flawed instruments. While they provide endless fodder for discussion, the flaws make them the proverbial 'grain of salt', as in take this with...

 

Statisticians can knock themselves silly constructing a fair sample, and can 'prove' that it's representative of the population on the whole, but it's not and never will be. Pollsters 'assume' the sample population they have selected wants to answer their questions, and answer them honestly.

 

First, many people simply hang up the phone if a pollster calls, or walk away if a pollster approaches them on the street. Thus, at best pollsters get a statistically significant sample of people who are willing to talk to them. That leaves out lots of people, maybe more than half. Still, pollsters will project the answers on to the overall population, but it hardly can be claimed to be representative of the people who purposely avoided them.

 

Second, not all people will answer honestly, and that for numerous reasons. Maybe the pollee assumes what the pollster wants to hear and gives them that answer. Maybe a wag gives them the opposite: assumes what the pollster wants to hear then tells them the opposite. Then there are people who prefer not to reveal their true belief, but are still willing to listen to a pollster, perhaps out of curiosity or politeness.

 

So pollsters are left with a limited and faulty true sample of a society and may be getting false or deceptive answers. The only way a poll could be considered accurate is if EVERYONE was willing to answer, and answer honestly. Then the sampling method would make sense and be truly representative.

 

Polling isn't going to go away, because there's money in it and most of us are amused by polls, but since there really isn't any way to correct for the issues noted here, the true 'margin of error' is likely to be a multiple of what is given.

And Sweden is at number 7. It is like day and night. And Swedes are unhappy when in Thailand. 54 is a low number, nothing to be happy about. No wonder all the suicide, shootings and alcoholics in Thailand if Thailand is at number 54.

 

 

                              Whereever you live, be happy with it. The grass is not

                              greener on the other side of the fence to your neighbour,

                              or to the other adjacent  countries. Stop looking for Shangri-la,

                              make your own Utopia. Make your own Shangri-la!

                              How hard can it be? Live your life to the fullest, without looking

                              in a direction, that you will not go to any time soon. Stop dreaming,

                              relax and enjoy your life, please!

 

                              (The key word here is "Relax")

 

                                       Cheers!. 

 

 

 

                          Yes Spidermike.

 

                      You have expressed that hundreds of times, that you are happy

                      to have left the US-states. I am proud of you. And I like your comments on 

                      various things regarding living in Thailand, and it would be nice to sit

                      and talk with you sometime, though I don`t think it will happen.

                      You are always spot on on various topics, and you have my admiration.

 

                      A BIG cheers to you!

 

                                  

Be interesting to compare Happiest nations to Drunkest nations

33 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

Polls are inherently flawed instruments. While they provide endless fodder for discussion, the flaws make them the proverbial 'grain of salt', as in take this with...

 

Statisticians can knock themselves silly constructing a fair sample, and can 'prove' that it's representative of the population on the whole, but it's not and never will be. Pollsters 'assume' the sample population they have selected wants to answer their questions, and answer them honestly.

 

First, many people simply hang up the phone if a pollster calls, or walk away if a pollster approaches them on the street. Thus, at best pollsters get a statistically significant sample of people who are willing to talk to them. That leaves out lots of people, maybe more than half. Still, pollsters will project the answers on to the overall population, but it hardly can be claimed to be representative of the people who purposely avoided them.

 

Second, not all people will answer honestly, and that for numerous reasons. Maybe the pollee assumes what the pollster wants to hear and gives them that answer. Maybe a wag gives them the opposite: assumes what the pollster wants to hear then tells them the opposite. Then there are people who prefer not to reveal their true belief, but are still willing to listen to a pollster, perhaps out of curiosity or politeness.

 

So pollsters are left with a limited and faulty true sample of a society and may be getting false or deceptive answers. The only way a poll could be considered accurate is if EVERYONE was willing to answer, and answer honestly. Then the sampling method would make sense and be truly representative.

 

Polling isn't going to go away, because there's money in it and most of us are amused by polls, but since there really isn't any way to correct for the issues noted here, the true 'margin of error' is likely to be a multiple of what is given.

1.Lie. 2.Big fat lie. 3.Statistics.

7 hours ago, Old Croc said:

Is the last ranked country in a happiness list actually the saddest?

Should there be a cut off point in such a list because countries below that point can't be accurately described as happy? 

 

I don't imagine there are very many people with a sunny outlook in Burma right now.

 

 

 

                                   Yes Lars Johan.

 

                            Statisics, statistics and lies! Same thing!

 

                           

3 hours ago, cyril sneer said:

land of fake smiles

 

it's essential to know this

Absolutely. Thailand is not on top in this category. 

8 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Well it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll! Whatever happened to the "Land of Smiles?"

It is incomprehensible why so many people from the top happiest ranked countries come to Thailand. 

Would THAT be the reason for TH to fall so low? 

Look around... who are the grumpiest?  Not Thai's for sure!