High: °
Low: °
Chance of precipitation:


Sunday, March 26 Science

Who's happy, who's not: Norway tops list, US falls

OSLO, Norway (AP) — If you want to pursue happiness, grab a winter coat.


What makes Norway and other northern European countries top the happiness list has a lot to do with a sense of community and broad social welfare support, according to experts and cheerful Norwegians, including one whose job it is to make people laugh.

"The answer to why Norwegians are happy — it's a bit boring — it's well functioning institutions," explained Norwegian comedian Harald Eia. "The schools, health care, police, all the bureaucracy treat people with respect and that trickles down and makes us happy, makes us trust each other, makes us feel a part of the whole community. So it's very boring: bureaucrats are the secret to our happiness."

Norway vaulted to the top slot in the World Happiness Report despite lower prices for oil, a key part of its economy. In the U.S., happiness has been declining for the past decade even as the nation has become richer.


"It's the human things that matter. If the riches make it harder to have frequent and trustworthy relationships between people, is it worth it?" asked John Helliwell, the lead author of the report and an economist at the University of British Columbia in Canada (ranked No. 7). "The material can stand in the way of the human."



"I think it's the work-life balance. So we have a big safety net, so we get free education, free health care, so it's really good," said 29-year-old Marin Maal in Oslo. "And we're close to nature."

Still, you have to have money to be happy, and it is no coincidence that Norway is one of the richest nations in the world. It's also why most of the bottom countries are in desperate poverty. But at a certain point extra money doesn't buy extra happiness, Helliwell and others said.


Read Full Article 

The report ranks 155 countries. The economists have been ranking countries since 2012, but the data used goes back further so the economists can judge trends.







It baffles Norwegian comedian Eia.

"Why can't Americans who are the brightest people in the world do the same thing as we do to make the happiest people?" Eia asked. "I don't get it."


Borenstein reported from Washington, D.C. Matti Huuhtanen contributed from Helsinki, Finland.