Places To Be Happy

As the US closes down for it's annual celebration of independence, hopefully it will be a weekend marked by happiness for all - even though the overall level of happiness may not have increased much in the last 60 years! Reported on the BBC web site today, some fascinating research (see the World Values Survey) has been undertaken over the last few decades, comparing happiness trends between countries. Apparently the US, along with other laggards including the UK, Belgium and Germany, have been flat-lining, while many other countries have shown increasing levels of happiness. Top of the latest list are Denmark, Colombia and Puerto Rico - maybe a whole new tourist industry could be started, with happiness tourists replacing the Da Vinci Code tourists of late?

What makes the difference, you ask? It seems to come down to two main dimensions: stronger secular-rationalist values (a shift towards secular communities) together with stronger values of self-expression (which idealizes individual expression). Having sated ourselves on materialism, these forces are now driving an increased desire for self actualization. That, and democracy are the common trends in the happier countries (even though, once democracy is established, familiarity seems to result in people rating it as less important!).

I wonder if there is any connection between the increasing interest in Positive Psychology in the US and dissatisfaction bred by its relative underperformance compared to most other countries where data has been collected?