Annotated "Satisfaction with life" Rankings (12 April 2008)

A few months ago I did an annoted international rankings that I thought was really interesting. This one is totally different: it measures the overall "satisfaction with life" in different countries. It is based on this document: http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/uploads/dl44k145g5scuy453044gqbu11072006194758.pdf.

Of course, I don't expect you all to read that whole long thing, so before getting to the actual list, I will summarise some things for you.

Their rankings are based on the following things: 1) International surveys: "how do you feel about your life?" 2) Life expectancy/ "Happy Life Years" which = Life expectancy * ratings of life expectancy 3) Ecological Footprint

Samples were based on surveys of 1000 to 3000 people in each control, with a "representative distribution of income and region"

I will use what's presented in Wiki, which is bassed on the same organisation, and the scores are similar. These rankings come from this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisfaction_with_Life_Index

I wanted to paste the entire rankings on this page, but it wouldn't work, so I will summarise (although you really should look at the page yourself). I'll write the top 10, bottom 10, and other significant / surprising countries.

1) Denmark & Switzerland (tied)
3) Austria & Iceland (tied)
5) The Bahamas
6) Finland
7) Sweden
8) Bhutan
9) Brunei
10) Canada....
17) Malaysia...
23) USA...
25) Venezuela
26) Australia...
31) Saudi Arabia...
34) Colombia
35) Germany......
41) UK.....
53) Singapore....
59) Mongolia....
62) France
63) Hong Kong.....
76) Thailand....
82) China
83) Cuba
84) Greece....
88) Gabon
89) Ghana
90) Japan (tied with Yemen)....
102) S. Korea....
114) Morocco....
129) Slovakia
130) Myanmar...
133) Turkey...
136) Romania...
138) Cameroon.......
(bottom 10) 169) Georgia
170) Belarus
171) Turkmenistan
172) Armenia
173) Sudan
174) Ukraine
175) Moldova
176) DRC
177) Zimbabwe
178) Burundi

What shouldn't surprise you: the top is dominated by wealthy Nordic and tropical countries; the bottom is dominated by impoverished sub-saharan africa and post-communist countries.

What might surprise you: there is not a direct connection with level of development or GDP

What I like about this survey is that it takes a lot of things into consideration. Countries with relatively low standards of living, but an incredibly rich culture, such as Myanmar, Peru, or Laos are higher than they might be otherwise- and I think that's important to consider. I think this list is in many ways accurate.... after all, I am not surprised that Burundi has the worst rate of life satisfaction, while Denmark and Switzerland boast the best.... I also like how this survey seems to take into account problems that may plague developed countries, which many other lists don't.

BUT, I have a few reservations:1) This was based on a sample of 1000 - 3000 people. That is EXTREMELY low, especially for countries whose populations are in the hundreds of millions.

2) Asking someone "are you satisfied with your life" is very subjective. Answers were on a 1-10 basis, but someone in Ghana might easily rate it the same as someone in the UK since they don't really know what the other person goes through. In other words, someone in Ghana may appreciate what he has (perhaps he is relatively rich) but taht doesnt mean that his life is much better than someone from a European country. But then I guess that's what they were trying to prove.... that this isn't something that should really be materialised or qualified.

3) Asking these questions can be fishy in certain countries, like Cuba or Myanmar, which are known for having pervasive governments which do not tolerate dissent. Would someone feel safe about saying their life is unsatisfactory? Or, in both of these countries, we could look at it from another point. In Cuba, people have an incredibly good healthcare and education system. In Myanmar, people have an incredibly rich and pervasive Budhist culture, which I imagine would make people happy- as opposed to countries, like many in Western Europe, where religion is quickly declining.

4) Also questionable is the inclusion of the oecological footprint. I like the idea, and think that we need to be more environmentally responsible. That said, does it REALLY affect people's life satisfaction? I think this makes countries like the US, Singapore and Hong Kong artificially low, while it inflates Bhutan and Mongolia. I can see the logic, but I think it's questionable.

There you have it. Thanks for reading.