It is Official: America Is Not The Happiest Place On Earth
Posted: Monday, July 06, 2009
by Laura Trahan
The United States has been known by its people as the best country in the world to live. In fact, coming off of July 4th celebrations, people are ecstatic about the freedoms we citizens have obtained.
Sometimes we arrogantly feel we are the best of the best achieving success at momentous speeds. We equate money and success with happiness leaving us empty.
Where did America score on the study's level of happiness? The United States was 114 out of 143 countries.
Where is the happiest place on Earth? Costa Rica. "Costa Ricans report the highest life satisfaction in the world, have the second-highest average life expectancy of the New World (second only to Canada) and have an ecological footprint that means that the country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of 'one-planet living': consuming its fair share of the Earth's natural resources," according to the study.
In fact, nine of the top ten happiest nations are Latin American countries. Rich, developed countries performed poorly. Britain came in a lot better than the U.S., but was still only at 74.
The report based its scale on happiness by looking at three goals: high life satisfaction, high life expectancy and one-planet living. It is pretty sad to think that we fall so low with these goals. Who wouldn't want a long, happy life?
I think the foundation nailed us on the head when it said the following statement. "For many in the West, the struggle to increase incomes has come at the expense of our social capital and mental health. The challenge for the West, the report says, is not to continue increasing our monetary incomes, but to ensure meaningful lives, and strong social ties. Often, achieving these aims means reducing the focus on consumption, and freeing up time for other pursuits."
How many times as individuals do we say we want a long healthy life full of family and friends, than spend the next 40 years working ourselves to the bone and losing it all?
My husband has been under a lot of pressure these past few months. Looking for a job in this economy has been brutal, but the biggest pressure he has endured has been withholding the decision we made years ago to not put our kids in daycare.
I worked the first four years after having a child. It was hard. I cried every time I had to drop him off. Then, we had our preemie daughter and the health risks for her being in daycare were momentous.
As soon as school let out for summer, we never put the two of them back in daycare full time. My daughter has one more year before starting kindergarten and we find ourselves with the decision to go back to work full-time.
The pressure on my husband has come in the form of family and friends pressuring him to ask me to go back to work. It isn't that they think he won't get a job. It is just that they want us to make lots of money by both of us working.
My question is what is the point? I understand making money to pay bills and survive, but is it more important then being a close family unit?
I have ten more years with my son and roughly 14 with my daughter before they embark on their own lives. Do I want their memories to be of our times together as a family or times spent with a sitter or in daycare? Is money more important then my family?
I think the New Economic Foundation has found what is important in life. As Americans, we are killing our selves and each other by continuing this consumer lifestyle. In the end, what will we have to show for it?
For more information on the study, visit the New Economic Foundation online at http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/
This Article has been viewed 1,766 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Good food for thought for us, no matter what country we live in. I was happy to see that Canada had a high life expectancy though. I'd love to make it to 100 or even higher.
I'm with David, good food for thought. I think a husband and wife should do what they think is best for them without input from family and friends (no matter how well-intentioned) unless they were specifically asked.
Americans are spoiled. We need something about which to complain. I enjoyed this article!
We might not be the 'happiest' (although who 'we' are is a good guess), but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Nice job.
Hi Laura.I agree with Michael in that while we might not be the happiest nationally, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else either. And his point about who the study profiled is a valid one. No one asked me if I was happy.I'm very happy. We live on a very small income, keep our spending to a minimum and do our best to find plenty of quality time for playing and learning and living a wonderful life together. There just has to be more like us. I wonder what would happen if someone were to pole every single adult living in America about their level of happiness.Good job ... lots to think about ... and very well written.Dianne
Good points in this article. I agree that it is important for a family to decide what is important to them - the pursuance of "stuff" or the pursuance of insideout happiness. Finding the balance is key.It takes courage to put yourself out there the way you did. I applaud you.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.