WE FILIPINOS are known to be a happy people. We can afford to smile even in the midst of sufferings and tragedy. It’s a wonder therefore why we only ranked 75th out of 155 countries in the 2017 World Happiness Report.
It’s probably because the factors used in the report did not really catch the happy mood that Pinoys have.
Factors considered in the rating are GDP per capita, healthy life, expectancy at birth, social support, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption. The happiest people are those from Norway, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, and Finland in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, respectively. The United States was only on 14th place. At the bottom are Rwanda (151), Syria (152), Tanzania (153), Burundi (154) and the Central African Republic (155).
But there’s another measurement of happiness. It's the Gallup 2017 Global Emotions Report, which measures people's positive and negative daily experiences. It’s more of a subjective indication of happiness and misery. Five positive and five negative questions were posed during nearly 150,000 interviews with adults in 142 countries.
Questions like: Did you feel well-rested yesterday? Were you treated with respect all day yesterday? Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday? Or, on the other hand: Did you experience the following feelings during a lot of the day yesterday? Worry? Physical pain? Stress?
The answers provide a glimpse into the emotional well-being, and lack thereof, of people across the globe. The report measured life’s intangibles, such as feelings and emotions, that traditional economic indicators such as GDP were never intended to capture. This field of study suggests that 70 percent of the human behavior is based on emotions and only 30 percent is rational.
And the result? The top five countries with the highest positive experiences worldwide are Paraguay, Costa Rica, Panama, Philippines and Uzbekistan. Actually, Panama, Costa Rica and the Philippines are all tied at third place with an index of 82. I think this study is more reflective of the true state of “happiness” of Filipinos.
On the other side of the statistics are the Highest Negative Experiences Worldwide led by Iraq and followed by South Sudan, Iran, Liberia and Central African Republic. Majorities of Iraqis experienced worry (63 percent), physical pain (60 percent), stress (59 percent) and sadness (57 percent) the previous day, and half of Iraqis (49 percent) were angry.
The report also looked at which countries replied “yes” the most to both positive and negative queries. Ecuador, El Salvador, Liberia and the Philippines topped the list of the most emotional countries in the world. They may not be the happiest or most negative counties on the planet, but the most passionate.
The most stressed people in the world are the Greeks. In Greece, more than two in three residents (67 percent) said they experienced a lot of stress the previous day, the highest percentage in the world. Greeks continued to grapple with unemployment rates above 20 percent.
So, smile! Sabi nga ni Freddie Aguilar sa kanyang kanta, tawanan mo ang iyong problema.