Israel Tied for Eighth Happiest Country in Poll

August 6, 2010

Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands were ranked at the top with the highest percentage of thriving people. The Palestinian Territories, which was listed as a “country,” was tied with a rank of 96th at 14% thriving, but ahead of Turkey, India and China.  

While the Forbes report noted that financial success was not the only factor in happiness, it nonetheless played an important role. Jim Harter, a chief scientist at Gallup, said in the report, “The Scandinavian countries do really well. One theory why is that they have their basic needs taken care of to a higher degree than other countries. When we look at all the data, those basic needs explain the relationship between income and well-being.”

Despite that analysis, Forbes noted that happiness on a day-to-day basis, rather than happiness about life success and the future, is more likely to be connected to social and psychological prosperity. Harter pointed to the example of Costa Rica, which was ranked sixth in happiness even though they are not as wealthy as other nations.
 

Posted on August 6, 2010

Source: (By Joshua Spurlock, BFP Israel Mosaic Radio, August 5, 2010)

Photo Credit: www.israelimages.com