The happiest countries? Balance matters more than money

Looks like the U.S. rated as sixth-happiest because the measure included other things besides happiness. When they measured how people actually felt, we did not as well.
And the gross domestic product is a poor measurement in a country with as much inequality as ours because it does not measure the financial well-being of most people, since most of the wealth is held by a small part of the population.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/28/18559908-the-happiest-countries-balance-matters-more-than-money?lite

by John Newl, worldnews.nbcnews.com
May 28, 2013

You might not think it from listening to politicians, but the United States is one of the happiest places on Earth.

In fact, according to this year’s Better Life Index, released Tuesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the U.S. is the sixth-happiest of the 36 countries rated, falling just behind such perennially cheerful nations as Sweden and Australia, which grabbed the top spot.

If money were the key to happiness, America would be No. 1 based on its top ranking for disposable income and total household wealth. But that’s not the only thing that matters.

The Paris-based OECD says that gross domestic product, often used to measure a country’s success, isn’t a sufficient indicator of people’s sense of well-being. So the organization takes 11 factors into account, including security, work-life balance, environment and housing.

The U.S. ranks sixth with all 11 factors weighted equally. But if you give the most weight to the elusive “life satisfaction” category, northern European countries are atop, with Switzerland, Norway and Sweden taking the top three spots and the U.S. dropping to 12th.

Work-life balance? Denmark, Norway and Sweden come out on top, and the U.S. is a middling 15th.

Romina Boarini, the OECD’s head of monitoring well-being and progress, sees a pattern in the data. The countries that do best are not only the richest, they’re often the ones that have the smallest gaps between the rich and poor.

Significant inequalities in such areas as health, education and housing can have a major impact, she said.

“We actually see that the lower the social gaps are, the higher the average well-being outcomes,” Boarini said.

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