The University of Michigan's World Values Surveys (WVS) has compiled data on the happiest countries in the world for over twenty years. Their results are considered the most authoritative by happiness researchers.
2002 Ranking of Countries by Level of "Subjective Well-Being"
European happiness map, with dark red happiest, yellow least happy - from a similar 28 July 2006 survey http://news.bbc.co.uk
2008 UPDATE by National Science Foundation http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111725&org=NSF
TOP 10 HAPPIEST COUNTRIES 2008: Denmark , Puerto Rico, Colombia, Iceland, N. Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada, Austria.........United States ranks 16
10 MOST MISERABLE COUNTRIES in 2008, starting with least happy: Zimbabwe, Armenia, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Albania, Iraq, Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia
2002 Data - not that different from the same study questions on happiness:
1. Puerto Rico 2. Mexico 3. Denmark 4. Colombia 5. Ireland 6. Iceland 7. N. Ireland 8. Switzerland 9. Netherlands 10. Canada 11. Austria 12. El Salvador 13. Venezuela 14. Luxembourg 15. U.S. 16. Australia 17. New Zealand 18. Sweden 19. Nigeria 20. Norway 21. Belgium 22. Finland 23. Singapore 24. W. Germany 25. France 26. Argentina 27. Vietnam 28. Chile 29. Indonesia 30. Philippines 31. Taiwan 32. Brazil 33. Spain 34. Israel 35. Italy 36. Portugal 37. E. Germany 38. Slovenia 39. Japan 40. Czech Rep 41. S. Africa 42. Croatia 43. Greece 44. Peru 45. China 46. Morocco 47. S. Korea 48. Iran 49. Poland 50. Turkey 51. Bosnia 52. Uganda 53. Algeria 54. Bangladesh 55. Egypt 56. Kyrgyzstan 57. Hungary 58. Slovakia 59. Jordan 60. Estonia 61. Serbia 62. Tanzania 63. Azerbaijan 64. Montenegro 65. India 66. Lithuania 67. Macedonia 68. Pakistan 69. Latvia 70. Albania 71. Bulgaria 72. Belarus 73. Georgia 74. Romania 75. Moldova 76. Russia 77. Armenia 78. Ukraine 79. Zimbabwe
Please note that not all of the world's countries are included in the survey. Data from http://thehappinessshow.com/HappiestCountries.htm Ronald Inglehart et al. (eds.) HUMAN BELIEFS AND VALUES: A CROSS-CULTURAL SOURCEBOOK BASED ON THE 1999-2002 VALUES SURVEYS Dr. Ron Inglehart, director of World Values Surveys, considers the "subjective well-being" measure a more accurate indicator of personal happiness.
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