Posted by Jost on August 6, 2006, at 21:47:20
In reply to Re: people in Rowanda... Dinah, Gabbi-G, Phillipa, posted by Estella on August 6, 2006, at 18:11:02
Actually, the study can be argued either way ie that a country's wealth (esp. in terms of health care and education, as well as income) and happiness are correlated, and that a country's wealth is not predictive of the overall happiness of its population.
Health care is apparently the number one predictor of a society's happiness, but overall wealth of a country is often interdependent with that and education, so there's significant correlation
But that's not to say that there aren't happy people in all societies, or that poverty imposes suffering, or wealth assures happiness--
Anyway, this study is just one take on a complex question, which could be analyzed in different ways.
The results and some explanation is on the following site:
http://www.le.ac.uk/pc/aw57/world/sample.html
The USA is 23rd on the list, UK is 41, Rwanda is 163, and Ukraine is 179. China is 82, and Australia 26.
Denmark, Norway, and Austria are all very high; many countries in Africa do very badly, which also unfortunately, is not surprising.
Jost
poster:Jost
thread:674015
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060806/msgs/674414.html