Why are the happiest countries in the world so happy?

this is very good hey are you feeling all right you're all right you look a little bit down there has something been going on you're not feeling great today you crying what are you crying you crying hi I'm Dave from boyinaband today we're gonna be taking a look at some of the happiest places in the world see a lot of people try to measure countries on something called GDP gross domestic product and a lot of those people measuring with GDP kind of use it as a metric of success for that country but perhaps money isn't the be-all and end-all perhaps it's possible to be successful monetarily but also deeply deeply depress and it's that kind of cheerful thinking that led to a slightly different metric gross national happiness so gross national happiness is an index that's used to measure the collective happiness and well-being of a population now money obviously does have some contributing factors to happiness if you can afford health care you're probably gonna be a little happier than someone whose child is dying of cancer and there's nothing you can do probably however it's not like a definite thing and past a certain point money does not statistically improve your happiness there are some countries that aren't earning that much money who are incredibly happy why the hell and how and what the hell am I doing wrong so that's what we're looking at today what can we learn from these countries that are incredibly happy and what they're bloody hell are we doing shock horror we're starting with Scandinavian countries they always tend to be at the top for anything freaking positive this is the world's happiest country so this is back in 2018 okay Finland is the happiest country in the world according to the latest world happiness report alright how do they measure this what are they looking at to see who's happy on the world happiness report site so these are surveys that's how they've done it I'm pretty sure asking someone if they're happy is probably going to be the best metric you'll get as to whether they are happy all the top countries tend to have high values for all of the six of the key variables that have been found to support well-being okay so there's six key variables apparently so got income if you can afford food then you're probably slightly happier than if you're starving to death healthy life expectancy yeah healthy being the optimal word there you don't really want to be in a coma social support sorry everyone so if you've got friends you're probably a bit more cheery freedom if you don't have freedom what do you got sorry trust and generosity that's an interesting one so if you're kinder than you tend to be happier okay the UN's happiness rankings use one data point where they asked people to rate their lives on a scale of zero to ten with zero being the worst possible life and ten being the best possible life so zero is like being a child soldier and ten is like best possible life but it's kind of sad that I'm starting to think of an example here and 10 is like suddenly everything tastes like white chocolate you find out that you were a wizard the whole time without be kind of sad because you've missed all the opportunities that be a nine every time someone says something mean to you you immediately have a spectacular clap back and then everyone everyone claps the latest rankings shows Syrians Burundians and central Africans rating their lives the worst being in a war zone does not make you cheery interesting and people in the Nordic countries rating their lives the best 7.5 on average that's insane that different luck of the draw Christ you got income inequality what about happiness inequality the analysis of happiness changes from 2008 to 2010 to 2015 ok so they've actually looked at which countries have gained the most Togo has been the biggest gainer in the past like 7 years moving up 17 places in the overall rankings from the last position the Biggest Loser is Venezuela down 2.2 points on the 0 to 10 scale price I've heard that a lot is going on in Venezuela at the moment but I didn't realize it was that bad no matter where they were that's like roughly half of their happiness and gone but yeah let's not look at Venezuela we're gonna look at the cheery people getting off-track here what's going on in Finland why does Finland get to be so happy in the 1860s Finland suffered a famine that killed about 9% of its population and now it's happy the end it has come a long way since what makes these countries so conducive to well-being no doubt the answer is multi causal ah I want one thing that I can do now that doesn't take much effort what are these Swedish boys get to be happy and smiling well I have to be depressed that's what I want to figure out inequality matters for many reasons high among these is that impacts upon the health and well-being of the populace including those near the top of the pyramid this point dawned upon economists when they noticed that although countries like the USA and UK were growing richer year-on-year their populations overall seemed no happier so people tend to compare themselves to other people rather than in absolute terms so because humans tend to compare themselves with others so much inequality is a big factor when it comes to happiness okay so inequality is one thing Wow put that in the list list of things inequality social capital the extent to which we trust and feel connected to those around the quality and quantity of our friendships the strength of our support networks so that is more equal societies with their higher levels of social capital do better on just about every available metric mental health crime rate level of trust okay that that's probably a stupid one to say when you've just said that social capital is the extent to which we trust people if you trust people then your level of trust will be higher so social capital and inequality those are the two big things bamm-bamm okay to give one example the average CEOs salary in the USA is three hundred and fifty four times higher than those of the company's workers whereas in Denmark it's only forty eight times higher so you might say that oh but those CEOs in America working for like the biggest companies in the world like Apple and Amazon and stuff like that and because those companies are so big they need to pay the CEOs more because they're the biggest CEOs they need to be the best and you need to pay for the best I can see the logic but does that mean if you use that system everyone is going to be less happy even if you you feel like you're paying Jeff Bezos fairly by giving him however many squillion dollars is that making Jeff Bezos and everyone else less happy and if so should Jeff Bezos take less money what else we got anyone else thinking about it it's true that last year all finns were happier than the rest of the country's residents but their immigrants were also the happiest immigrants of the world it's not about finished DNA it's the way life is lived in those countries despite winters without much sunlight scandinavian residents are the happiest in the world according to this report that's an interesting point I heard a lot about s ad seasonal affective disorder which some people chalked up to like there's less sunlight during the winter so people get more depressed sunlight might not have that significance of an effect on your happiness at least compared to maybe inequality social capital and whatever the hell these guys are about to tell us Scandinavia may have reason to celebrate the rest of the world is not so happy oh no serious music the u.s. is ranking also fell credited in a large part to a compulsive pursuit of substance abuse and addictive behaviors do you perhaps think that people might be a little upset before they abuse substances there might be something before that it's not just that the substances mmm it feels kind of like saying yeah people are sad because they say the words I'm sad when I ask them if they're sad it's like there's nothing in their brain making them sad before they say those words but as soon as those words have said that's the point where they are sad okay come on BBC this is my country this is my frickin facts pounds at work this will be the best article you've ever seen you just wait this will be the most insightful thing we've ever heard my government does nothing wrong Finland's well-being for instance scores especially high in the absence of negative feelings category but just a bit above average in the positive feelings category that's interesting so maybe in Finland people aren't necessarily much happier but they are less unhappy like then what we'll just content they don't feel cheerful all the time they feel down a lot less of the time compared to other countries perhaps that we run about here we go there were findings in the research paper dark contrasts the paradox of high rates of suicide in happy places okay it's a sad tile people often judge their well-being in comparative terms the researchers say that a depressed person may become even more depressed when surrounded by especially happy people does that mean that if you're depressed then you will be happier if you hang out with other depressed people I've noticed that when I feel particularly depressed and withdrawn I feel more comfortable talking to my depressed friends than my like more conventionally happy friends so I can see some of that like what I'm really really down I might chat to my boy corpse husband he's a horror narration channel he doesn't really show his face and he's perhaps not the cheeriest fellow in the world yeah I feel more comfortable talking to him and then I would send him s to Rumi and roomies incredibly kind he's always there listening when I have a problem and when I do talk to him yeah perhaps it's just easier to not feel quite so bad if I'm not comparing myself to someone who has their life together why are people like that why is it so comparative rather than absolute so what are the factors that ranked Finland Norway Denmark Iceland and Switzerland the happiest countries in the world it isn't just about being really rich or about being really socially connected or about having a really good government it's a whole mixture so if inequality is that big of an issue maybe fixing inequality is a good thing if you want to be happy of course you might not want to be happy perhaps you really enjoy emo music in which case like the more inequality the better emo perhaps that's what we're looking for for people out of work in Switzerland there are generous unemployment benefits most are eligible to receive 80 percent of their last salary for anywhere from 6 to 18 months in Sweden parents are entitled to almost 16 months of paid parental leave per child and in Finland this year's winning country the government even provides baby boxes to all new parents so yeah if you government's giving you a baby box and you're probably going to be happier than if your government's like good luck that's a harsh burn ooh murdered by words we are living the American dream here in Finland Iceland all rank among the highest taxed countries in the OECD that's interesting too so the happiest countries are the countries that pay the most tax but they also have a government that isn't just stealing all of that tax money yeah it fricking Greece all of em is way less suddenly start saying yeah we want a bunch more tax so you can be happier their history of corruption might make that a little less effective perhaps in other countries around the world residents are struggling with corrupt governments weather-related crises and poverty that's it we have to fix the weather so never mind that the poverty and the inequality know we need more Sun that's the issue weather slap it up there we visited the reigning champions of joy to see what makes them so happy so it's sarcasm in this dudes voice Christ are you happy I feel that on such a deep level are you happy oh but then when you measure happiness like positive emotions like joy joyfulness and how much do you smile every day and so forth where is Finland on that scale not close to the top again it's to do with the difference between are you negative loss at the time or do you have a lot of positivity so in Finnish people don't have much of either so that pushes them up quite a lot whereas if you would just ask them Finnish people do you smile a lot every day they'll be like nah at the top of that scale cheerful if impoverished latin-american countries like Paraguay and Guatemala that's interesting these are the ones that are cheerful highest positive experiences Paraguay and Costa Rica I'd seen Costa Rica called the happiest country before I guess that's the kind of thing that they were talking about word happiness there's a like Noah everybody seems to define it in different ways as a researcher like I said that you know we should like get rid of the word happiness what term would you prefer is used I would prefer it like we have like a few separate words like positive emotions life satisfaction meaningfulness and like CDs and theses as three separate things that's a good point just saying I want to be happy it's not as useful as saying I want to have more positive emotions I want to have more life satisfaction I want to feel like there is meaning in my life like those are very different things which a lot of people would kind of messily group together under the term happiness let's look at the people who have to have a lot of positive emotion a lot of smiles a lot a cheer okay I just got to an article about how Paraguay conquers happiness first line ignorance is bliss that feels like a straight diss towards Paraguay Oh Paraguay people are idiots that's why they're happy if Paraguay is one of the most unfair corrupt and unequal countries on earth and if we almost all agree that injustice corruption and inequality are the great evils that plague us and why do its residents say they are so happy as a fascinating question one of the most noted characteristics of our idiosyncrasy is blindness so the people don't pay much attention a businessman in Paraguay says their habit of not examining their past very closely or living for the moment that adds up with some of the therapy that I was suggested to try a CT acceptance commitment therapy where the research is all about meditation and focusing on being in the moment and that makes more content and happy ah it's important to see where the negative experiences outweigh positive ones it doesn't happen in Latin America where people reported both the highest positive emotions and the highest negative emotions and yet still ended up on top in terms of well-being so in Latin America the passionate latina Latino latina where they just have really intense emotions both negative and positive well that's called Gallup the people who did these polls in the first place to test this stuff actually made changes for their employees we do a range of things where the office will get together and say let's choose an emphasis on community well-being I'm not sure quite what that would actually mean but they also choose five nonprofits and get involved in them because they've seen science talking about generosity making people happier they got together and decided to be generous as a community yeah and that's going to have the community tie-in as well did it make people happier it certainly improved their well-being so Gallup seems to think it's helped their own people a be curious to hear from the employees how about Costa Rica that everybody can be happy in the same way you want to enjoy life day to day the differentiating between these different types of happiness so you got enjoy life day to day you want to look back in your life and be proud of it not stay away till 3:00 a.m. thinking what the hell did I do that and have a purpose like kind of know where you're going I guess have your own story to prove it he takes us to Costa Rica the richer society isn't happier they are but Costa Rica isn't all that rich he introduces us to Trini we weren't a living scrubbing toilets so I ask your skill would it turn out happier she said god I don't think I know anyone that would say they are a ten if you ask them how happy they are that's insane like zero people in my entire life I've ever met religious people tend to be happier she was able to relinquish the worries and stresses her life over something bigger I've heard the religion makes people happier which sucks when you are not religious maybe it's time for me to stop looking for evidence in things and start praising the Lord and start throwing my hands up to Jesus okay I think it's funny that like they were just showing that example of everyone messing around roughhousing and being playful and I'm just thinking okay who owns those potatoes that's putting their hands all over them that's gonna cause him to have to wash some of those potatoes that's such an inconsiderate thing to do whereas these people are clearly just enjoying the moment and not worrying about the tiny amount of germs on those potatoes I think that says a lot about the cultural difference few years ago he was down to eight dollars in his pocket he gets a phone call from his friend u.s. dollars but there's a twist within one year he gave it all away give it to his mother there was a beggar in the market he saw everyday gave it all weight and I asked him aren't you sad that you blew all this money he was absolutely not I'm still a nine out of ten that's so cool what a cool story to find so this guy had eight dollars and then he won the lottery and then he gave it all away and he's still says he's in a nine out of ten happiness and there's all these stories of like people winning the lottery and just freakin killing themselves or think that like it's the worst thing that ever happened to them this guy made it the best thing by just giving all the money away so what have we learned the big ones that we saw initially when it came to more contentment rather than happiness were income inequality and social connectedness social capital whatever they called it then here we've just been looking at Costa Rica being able to live for the moment to not think too much about the horrible things that go on I don't know how I would stop doing that there are exercises in acceptance commitment therapy a CT that are like statistically effective for this kind of thing they haven't worked for me yet but I'm assuming for a lot of people they are effective so perhaps give all your money away as long as you have over seventy five thousand make sure you secure make sure you got a family if you haven't got a family you're doomed to be depressed for the rest of your life cheers for watching and have a nice day all right well I've got a flight to catch [Music] allow me David what the hell how did you get here I caught a flight I assume like you and boy am I glad of all these bad boys my rake on e 25 year votes you nobody stop about half the price of of a premium wireless earbuds on the market I was just looking to chill and listen to a podcast or something can you don't make these bad boys are amazing for podcasts or anything really there's sound just as good as of a top audio Browns you know you just pop them in and go yeah I own a pet LA they own some ray comes they're great for listening to stuff and I'm traveling and they're really convenient and they actually stick in my ears right those are the old ones you gotta get some of these new bad boys it's fare best one yet with six hours of playtime seamless bluetooth pairing more [ __ ] bass and a more compact design that gives you a nice noise isolating fit and mate look recharging case finger looks like a pill of walking off pills you not say that I don't know mate don't try and swallow it trust me please stop talking about pills in a sponsor segment and these bad boys come in a bunch of fun no colors you could be red pill you could be blue pill maybe don't phrase it that way so if you love music and you love not getting all tangled up in wires then head over to link in the description and get 15% off your order that's by rake on.com slash walking Dave oh thank you enjoy your trip Oh believe me I will [Music]

Channel: undefined

Views: 696,768

Rating: 4.9602952 out of 5

Keywords: boyinaband, happiest countries, finland, scandinavia, happiness, depression, countries, worst, best, costa rica

Id: TkVtXaPHbGM

Length: 19min 20sec (1160 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 12 2019