Happy Canada

From the G & M:
"Canada ranked 5th happiest place on earth"

 

Where are the world’s happiest people, and what makes them so upbeat? Switzerland is in the top spot – and Canada fares well too, landing in fifth place of 158 nations, according to the third world happiness report, which analyzes well-being through measures such as life expectancy, per capita incomes and perceptions of corruption.  “We are encouraged that more and more governments around the world are listening and responding with policies that put well-being first,” said Prof. Helliwell. “Countries with strong social and institutional capital not only support greater well-being, but are more resilient to social and economic crises.” Canada has moved up a notch from its last report in 2013. Compared to its southern neighbour, “the U.S. is higher on GDP per capita, but Canada is higher on all five of the remaining variables: healthy life expectancy, social support, corruption, generosity, and freedom to make life choices,” noted Prof. Helliwell. “The net effect of the latter is much larger than the former, putting Canada significantly higher than the U.S.” The rankings, based partly on the Gallup World Poll, reflect issues such as social supports, life expectancy, GDP per capita, generosity, perceptions of corruption and “freedom to make life choices.” (One of the indicators, for example, reflects the share of respondents who say they have someone to count on in times of crisis. In this measure, Iceland and Ireland fare best). The findings come in the same month as the release of another global report on well-being, called the Social Progress Index. It looked at measures such as crime, health and social inclusion, and ranked Canada sixth of 133 countries. Wealthier, northern countries lead the rankings in the happiness report. It shows Switzerland is on top, followed by Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Canada and Finland. The United States is in 15th place. Togo, Burundi and war-torn Syria are at the bottom. The report also examined happiness by age and gender. It found men and women report similar levels of life satisfaction in Canada, though women are slightly more happy. “Despite what people may think about gender inequality, on the happiness front [the difference between men and women] is generally very small,” said Nicole Fortin, UBC professor who wrote the chapter on gender and age. In English-speaking countries, levels of happiness tend to rise as people age, with those near or in retirement the most happy. The report comes in the same week Statistics Canada published a study on life satisfaction among Canadian cities. It found people in Saguenay, Trois-Rivières and St. John’s report the highest degrees of satisfaction, while those in big cities – Toronto and Vancouver – are less satisfied.

 

^ I wonder what other, ordinary Canadians think about this new survey. One survey found that Denmark was the best place to live on the planet and then they had the violence against Jews there so it's clearly not the best place for everyone. Canadians generally do seem happy on the outside, but I think it's a little superficial. No one can be so happy and polite and yet openly discriminate against having a non-Protestant monarch or not allowing Canadians who weren't born in Canada to give Canadian citizenship to their children. ^

 

 

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canada-is-5th-happiest-place-on-earth-ubc-study/article24073929/