Friday, July 04, 2008 Editorials: The world’s 38th happiest nation
WHEN the result the US government-funded World Values Survey showed that the world is getting happier, the world-wide food problem was not yet in the offing.
The survey, which has been undertaken regularly since 1995, had 350,000 respondents.
The weighted average of the combined results from some 97 countries “based on reported happiness and life satisfaction” ranked the nations from the happiest to the least happy.
The US, perceived the happiest “from a global perspective,” came in only as No.16 even if it is not only prosperous but also “ranks relatively high in gender equality, tolerance of ethnic and social diversity, and high level of political freedom.”
Denmark was considered the happiest, according to the National Science Foundation that released the rankings.
“It is prosperous—not the richest country in the world but it is prosperous.”
It is followed by Puerto Rico, Colombia, Iceland, North Ireland, Ireland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada and Austria.
Questions
The survey posed only two basic questions.
Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, not at all happy?
The second question: All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?
It should not surprise us a bit, though, that the Philippines came in 38th.
It would have been phenomenal had we come in any higher in the ranking.
Among the six Southeast Asian nations included in the survey, the Philippines appears slightly better only than Indonesia, which is 40th.
Which should really make us pause.
Peace
A political scientists of the University of Michigan who directed the studies strongly suspects, based on the results, that “there is a strong correlation between peace and happiness, and happiness and democracy.”
Peace is something we have long pursued and it has always been an elusive commodity to us.
Peace is a long-missed commodity
.
We have to do something collectively as a people and jointly as a nation to bring it into our lives.
Peace and happiness is what we need in order to be able to focus our concerns on national development and gain the assurance that our republic will be able to overcome the challenges of our contemporary life.
