WEBVTT - What's the Happiest Country in the World?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren fog obamb Here. Those Nordic countries have done it again.

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<v Speaker 1>According to the eighteen World Happiness Report, Finland is the

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<v Speaker 1>happiest country in the world, making it a Nordic clean

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<v Speaker 1>sweep for five out of the past six World Happiness Reports.

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<v Speaker 1>Switzerland stole the top spot in and coming in second

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<v Speaker 1>is last year's champ Norway, followed by Denmark and Iceland.

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<v Speaker 1>With their dominance of the happiness rankings, the Nordic countries

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<v Speaker 1>may have the rest of the world wondering whether the

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<v Speaker 1>recipe for true happiness involves an obsession with cured fish

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<v Speaker 1>and creative wood stacking. But a closer look at the

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<v Speaker 1>methodology behind the World Happiness Report reveals an interesting anomaly.

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<v Speaker 1>Depending on which survey questions you weigh higher on the

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<v Speaker 1>happiness scale, the Fins and Danes may not actually be

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<v Speaker 1>the happiest people on the planet. Instead, that distinction might

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<v Speaker 1>very well belong to Columbia, El Salvador and other relatively

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<v Speaker 1>poor Latin American countries. So how could Columbia, which ranks

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<v Speaker 1>thirty seven on this year's World Happiness Report, be the

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<v Speaker 1>real winner? The answer is that there are two distinct

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<v Speaker 1>ways of gauging happiness. The World Happiness Report relies on

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<v Speaker 1>data from the Gallop World Poll, a massive survey of

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<v Speaker 1>a hundred and sixty countries in a hundred and forty languages,

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<v Speaker 1>covering topics from government corruption to job security to lgbt

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<v Speaker 1>Q rights. The most recent report covers data from the

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<v Speaker 1>section of the Gallop World Poll that asks people about

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<v Speaker 1>their personal well being. Includes twelve questions that are designed

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<v Speaker 1>to elicit two very different kinds of answers about happiness.

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<v Speaker 1>John Clifton is a global managing partner at Gallop and

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<v Speaker 1>remembers when the Gallop World Poll was first conceived in

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand five. He says that the survey design team

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<v Speaker 1>consulted with some top minds, including the Nobel Prize winners

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<v Speaker 1>Daniel Koneman, psychologist and economist Angus Deaton, and decided to

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<v Speaker 1>include two different types of happiness questions in the poll.

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<v Speaker 1>One that's an overall life of uation from zero to

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<v Speaker 1>ten and another that focuses on the emotional experiences of

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<v Speaker 1>daily life. Clifton says, we did it very intentionally. The

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<v Speaker 1>way we defined well being or what makes a great

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<v Speaker 1>life is how people live their life and how they

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<v Speaker 1>see their life, so we need metrics for each of them.

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<v Speaker 1>The life evaluation question, also known as Cantroll's Ladder, goes

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<v Speaker 1>like this. Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from

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<v Speaker 1>zero at the bottom to ten at the top. The

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<v Speaker 1>top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you,

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<v Speaker 1>and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible

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<v Speaker 1>life for you. On which step of the ladder would

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<v Speaker 1>you say you personally feel you stand at this time.

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<v Speaker 1>What's interesting about this question is that people's responses track

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<v Speaker 1>closely with income level. The more money you have, the

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<v Speaker 1>more likely you are to say that your life is

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<v Speaker 1>an eight or nine on the ladder. Clifton thinks this

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<v Speaker 1>is because the question is essentially asking are you satisfied

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<v Speaker 1>with your life? Clifton said, when we're asking people to

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<v Speaker 1>reflect on their life and its totality, they're thinking about

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<v Speaker 1>basic needs, whether or not they're able to meet or

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<v Speaker 1>exceed basic needs, and one of the easiest ways to

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<v Speaker 1>do that is with money. The World Happiness Report, which

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<v Speaker 1>routinely ranks wealthy Nordic countries as the happiest, relies almost

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<v Speaker 1>exclusively on people's responses to the latter question. Beyond higher incomes,

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<v Speaker 1>Nordic countries also rank high on other metrics that the

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<v Speaker 1>World Happiness Report equates with well being, freedom, trust of

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<v Speaker 1>the government, long life expectancy, social support, and generosity. But

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<v Speaker 1>what about the second type of happiness question, the one

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<v Speaker 1>based on emotions and daily life experiences. In addition to

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<v Speaker 1>the latter question, the Gallop World Pole poses a series

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<v Speaker 1>of yesterday questions, asking people if they experienced specific positive

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<v Speaker 1>and negative emotions during the previous day, things like smiling

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<v Speaker 1>and laughter, respect, enjoyment, or worry, sadness, and anger. If

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<v Speaker 1>you equite happiness with high levels of positive daily experiences

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<v Speaker 1>and emotions, then several surprising countries come out on top,

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<v Speaker 1>according to Gallop data from Columbia, El Salvador and Guatemala.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, of the ten countries that rank highest in

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<v Speaker 1>Gallops Positive Experience Index, seven are from Latin America. The

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<v Speaker 1>only Nordic country to make the cut is Iceland at

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<v Speaker 1>number eight. So the question is which is the more

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<v Speaker 1>accurate assessment of happiness, the latter question that favors Nordic

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<v Speaker 1>countries or the experience questions that favor Latin American countries

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<v Speaker 1>and which Gallop uses in its own Global Emotions Report.

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<v Speaker 1>Clifton from Gallop says that both are useful. In his opinion,

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<v Speaker 1>the latter question is the best indicator for policymakers who

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<v Speaker 1>want a big picture metric of how a country is

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<v Speaker 1>doing in general, whether it's people are struggling or thriving.

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<v Speaker 1>In that way, the World Happiness Report gets it right,

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<v Speaker 1>but what that's gauging is probably closer to well being

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<v Speaker 1>than actual happiness. To really zero in on the complex

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<v Speaker 1>emotional state of happiness, Clifton says he prefers those yesterday responses,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's probably too late to change the name of

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<v Speaker 1>the World Happiness Report to the World Well Being Report,

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<v Speaker 1>and frankly, who would want to the former title is

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<v Speaker 1>waked year, Clifton said, the World Happiness Report is one

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<v Speaker 1>of the most, if not the most watched indices in

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<v Speaker 1>the world. You can ask anyone on the street who

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<v Speaker 1>is the happiest country in the world, and they'll tell

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<v Speaker 1>you it's Finland or Norway because they saw a headline

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<v Speaker 1>in the Economist. But the World Happiness Report has not

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<v Speaker 1>ignored the Latin American happiness paradox. Version includes a special

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<v Speaker 1>section on happiness in Latin America and notes that there

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<v Speaker 1>is a reasonable provision of public goods in the region,

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<v Speaker 1>as well as adequate health and education services. The strong

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<v Speaker 1>social connections and close family relationships provide very high levels

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<v Speaker 1>of emotional happiness. However, the high rates of crime, corruption,

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<v Speaker 1>and poverty in many Latin American countries caused them to

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<v Speaker 1>lose points on a general well being scale. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>was written by Dave Ruse and produced by Tyler Clang.

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<v Speaker 1>For more on this and lots of other satisfying topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit our home planet, how stuff works dot com.