418-The Happiest Country on Earth

Have you ever wondered where the happiest place on earth is? Maybe, you think of a mountain cabin or a deserted island, but what if I told you there is a country with that title? Check out my new blog post to find out where it is!

 

Transcript:

 

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in about 2 minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life. 

 

I'm your host Katie Jefcoat, and today we are talking about the happiest country on Earth. In a previous episode, we spoke of the Gross National Happiness Index created by Bhutan. This concept was introduced to the United Nations about a decade ago, and they adopted it. Since 2012, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (phew…that's a long name) has published its World Happiness Report.

The report is a modified version of Bhutan's Gross National Happiness index, utilizing data from six areas of life: GDP per capita, life expectancy, social support, trust and corruption, perceived freedom to make life decisions, and generosity. To make this report, 1,000 random people in each UN member state complete a survey. 

In the 2022 World Happiness Report, we learn about the happiest country on Earth. Drumroll please…… Finland! For the 5th year in a row, Finland has ranked as number 1 in happiness with a score of 7.821 on the scale. While many factors play into why this is, many speculate that it largely has to do with the country's educational structure.

Not only is Finland one of the top-ranking educational systems in the world, often beating out Asian countries like South Korea and Japan, but their educational foundation is based less on quantitative testing and more on experiential learning. What does that mean? It means that Finland focuses less on making their students memorize facts from a book but on learning how and why things work to form the answers themselves.

Getting back to the World Happiness Report, are you wondering how the USA placed? We came in at 16th with 6.977. As a first-world, powerhouse country…that's not all that great, to be honest. But it could be worse! How can we fix this? Well, happiness needs to be a national goal, but you can start by creating a happier life for yourself and those around you. Remember, small actions lead to a remarkable change. Therefore, I challenge you to make the country a little happier today by doing something kind for yourself and someone else. Kindness is contagious, after all! 

By the way, if you would like to read the 2022 World Happiness Report, I have included the link in the show notes. Please note that it is 158 pages long, so grab your reading glasses!

https://happiness-report.s3.amazonaws.com/2022/WHR+22.pdf

 

 

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Inspired by this article the 2022 World Happiness Report:  https://happiness-report.s3.amazonaws.com/2022/WHR+22.pdf