Happy Belated Happiness Day, everyone! Three days after toasting the health of St. Patrick, we got to celebrate a UN-created holiday: Happiness Day. Introduced in 2011, Resolution 65/309 invited nations to measure citizen happiness - not for fun (which might have created some degree of happiness), but to create data to guide public policy. As if.
Sharing Means Caring
To augment our delight, we can read the annual Happiness Report, which ranks countries by a happiness index, gussied up by an accompanying - but unrelated - theme. This year’s was the importance of caring and sharing. The First Report, released in 2012, focused on Well-being and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm, which was inspired by Bhutan, which adopted gross national happiness (GNH) instead of gross domestic product as their primary development indicator.
Like the last three years, Finland took in first place, with Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden not far behind. Notably, Israel (a perennial high-happiness favorite) placed 8th, and Mexico rounded out the top ten, with winning countries proudly strutting their rankings. The report has a peculiar format, first noting the likelihood a lost wallet will be returned and then shifting to the 
unrelated Cantril Life Ladder, which measures the gap between what you have and what you (think you) could have. It seems this may be more a measure of contentment than happiness. Actually, this approach reflects populations lacking aspiration or imagination: the lower the aspirations, the smaller the gap compared to expectations, and the happier the people.
I’ve always been skeptical of the report's validity, but critics were ready for bear this year.
Where does the report go awry?
We start by noting the key term, happiness, is not defined. Just what “happiness” is has been the subject of philosophical debate since philosophers invented themselves a couple of thousand years ago. And if you don’t define it – you can’t reliably measure it, rendering the entire report suspect, if not worthless.
The report also reflects the US falling to its lowest-ever position - 24th out of the 147 countries. Primarily, this value is driven by people under 30. Of course, it doesn’t necessarily mean our Gen Zs, Alphas, and Betas are more constitutionally depressed than their global counterparts; they are just ‘morosing’ more over future prospects.
Yashca Mounk, Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins and founder of the substack Persuasion, dissects and decimates the report, noting its flaws and highlighting deficiencies and concluding that the structure of Cantril’s Ladder “appears to influence participants to attend to a more power and wealth-oriented view of well-being.” This is a pretty skewed reading of happiness if you ask me.
Mounk also looks at other research which presents starkly different results. Finland, for example, falls to 51st place, while Japan, Panama, and Thailand surpass many UN “winners,” including Finland. As for the US, the situation is more nuanced, with broad discrepancies across the states in happiness, mirroring those in life expectancies.
“[S]ome parts of the [US] … are seemingly the happiest in the world…., the residents of 34 U.S. states, plus those of the District of Columbia, have higher average levels of happiness than do the Fins.” – Yascha Mounk
Ironically, Gallup, which conducted the single-measure survey, didn’t measure the “connection” metric. Seeming outraged, Mounk called the report “shoddy clickbait” and “misinformation.”
Israel: A Case Study in Burying Mental Health Issues
Mounk’s skepticism stemmed from personal observations when visiting family in Scandinavia, recollecting stony cold faces with nary a smile. My experience living in Israel for twelve years led me to similar doubts. None of my Israeli friends - on both sides of the political divide - are remotely happy, especially now. Indeed, reports document that since the Oct 7th attack, Israel has faced “an overwhelming mental health crisis.” This hasn’t stopped a relentless campaign that nothing is amiss in the country, reflecting a populace whose cultural norms include denying mental health problems.
While low compared to global statistics, Israel’s teenage suicide is surging post-October 7th, driven by anxiety and stress. However, the trend began a decade ago, as teen suicides (strictly forbidden in Judaism) increased by 75%. In 2023, 44% of Israeli youth were reported prone to constant depression, despair, and anxiety, while 20% suffered suicidal ideation. Therapy rates are higher than in the US [1]. Yet, the shortage of psychiatrists, resulting in waiting times for initial appointments ballooning from three weeks to over a year, suggests even more would avail themselves of care if available.
Emigration is exploding. In October 2023 alone, Israeli emigration surged by 285%, with 12,300 departures. Over the year, almost 83,000 people emigrated (the highest number ever) compared to roughly 33,000 people making Aliyah (immigrating). The brain drain is a notable consequence, with the elite leading the exodus, reportedly posing an existential threat.
“[Young talented Israelis] want to live in a free, liberal-democratic country, and not in a country where the government is forcibly taking power…These are the people who have decided that they can no longer live in this country.” - Israeli Nobel Laureate Aaron Ciechanover
It doesn’t seem to me that this is a land flowing with bliss and happiness.
Mexico: Happiness Amidst Violence?
Israel is not the only country on the happiness list giving readers pause. Let’s look at number 10, Mexico, which also boasts one of the highest crime rates in the world.
According to the Global Peace Index (GPI), Mexico is among the least peaceful countries in Latin America. Kidnapping, fraud, extortion, drug- trafficking, and related crimes are commonplace, and crimes such as theft and pickpocketing are commonly reported.
If Mexicans are truly happy, one might conclude that they, too, are willfully oblivious.
Drugging One’s Way to Happiness
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World depicts a society designed to maximize happiness or at least minimize discontent. Two features are employed to accomplish this end: genetic engineering of class, restricting aspirations for advancement (which tracks with the Cantril Ladder model), and the miracle drug, SOMA, which mimics today’s analog, the antidepressant.
Of late, worldwide use of antidepressants has skyrocketed, but the most dramatic increases occurring in the top five happiness countries! Iceland, the second happiest country in the world in 2020, has the highest antidepressant consumption in Europe; sixth-ranked Sweden in happiness has the fourth highest use of antidepressants, and Finland (the Happiest country) is the tenth highest scorer of anti-depression use. [2]
So, are these nations genuinely happy or just heavily drugged?
Reporters deny any connection between happiness and antidepressant use. But it seems that a happy person isn’t about to pop Prozac. Perhaps the answer is the converse: the less happy someone is, the more they do drugs.
I'm not sure how to square that circle.
Income Disparity: A More Telling Metric
Income inequality is one metric associated with better health outcomes that may be related to happiness is income inequality. Here we do see some correlation measured in Gini Coefficient for 2020. The Gini coefficient measures the extent to which income or wealth distribution deviates from a perfectly equal distribution, where 0 is perfect equality and 1 is perfect inequality.
The Happily Depressed
By conflating contentment and low expectations with happiness and ignoring the impact of income disparity, the World Happiness Report distorts the picture. But a prize is still a prize, and the winners delight in publicizing it, artificially boosting ego, if not mental state, and creating a fractured picture.
As Lewis Caroll actually said:
“'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
All mimsy were the borogoves ....
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay, He chortled in his joy.”
Anyway, in my eyes, that’s about the worth of the World Happiness Report.
[1] 19% of Israeli youth reported receiving therapy compared to 13.8% in the US).
[2] Another report included Israel in the top ten antidepressant consumers.
Source: Why the Happiest Countries Might Not Be So Happy Econlife
