The Norwegians have managed to knock the Danes off the top spot – just. The recently released World Happiness Report 2017 identifies Norwegians as the happiest people on earth, very closely followed by Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland, with other Nordic countries (Finland and Sweden) not far behind. The report identifies six factors that explain international differences in happiness, and where Norway and other Nordic countries score highly: income, healthy life expectancy, social support (having someone to count on in times of trouble), freedom to make life decisions, generosity and trust or absence of corruption.
Month: March 2017
Life is a race – and we’re all losing
Life can feel like it’s a permanent race – at home, at work, in our society and across the globe. When Trump says “America will start winning again”, he means others will lose. In the UK, we too are embarking on a new era of national self-interest. Decades of building international alliances, of striving to tackle global challenges together, are now unravelling as we enter the global race, even as it’s not clear what prize we’re striving for. Whatever we think we might win, it seems likely we’ll fail. In David Lammy’s words, on the post-EU world stage “other countries will hold a gun to our heads”.
Is life a zero-sum game? Do we need to do better than others to succeed, to be happy?
notacompetition 