A research at the end of 2015 showed the happiest countries among 68 that were surveyed.
Surprisingly, the most satisfied people live in Colombia, Fiji and Saudi Arabia. In the 39th edition of the End of Year Survey, the results showed the expectations, views and beliefs of 66040 people across the world.
The research was done by the WIN/Gallup International centre that is present in as many countries, as those that have participated in the survey. 66% of the participants feel happy with their lives, it is four percent less than last year. 23% people filled out that they were not happy and 10% of the sample do not feel happiness at all in their lives. The unhappiness has increased since last year when the researchers measured it as being 6% among participants.
The survey was pointing to the happiness that may be brought by the following year, 2016. Colombia is the happiest nation in the world. Despite the active drug trade and high level of other criminal activities, people feel safe and satisfied here. The ‘winning position’ is surprising also for the reason that the country will revise economic problems in the upcoming year. Fiji follows Colombia in the said list. A warm country that is famous mainly for being a paradise on the earth for the rich tourists. The “bronze medal” is given to Saudi Arabia, a kingdom that is buffeted by the unstable political situation and severe restrictions.
In the ‘first five’ we can also find Azerbaijan, a country that is currently in the process of rapid development, and Vietnam, another country known, among others, as the paradisiacal place for tourists.
The least happy country, as noted, is Iraq. For this country, it is the second year of its “sad period”, because also in the End of Year Survey it showed the greatest amount of unhappy people. This is probably caused by the war that has been on for many years in this locality.
The most surprising is the feeling of satisfaction of the third happiest country, Saudi Arabia. Amnesty International label this nation as having an unfair government that “severely restricts freedoms of expression, association and assembly”. This can mean that for people in Saudi Arabia, the mentioned limits are not the reason for not being happy or being afraid of what might happen to them. “The country arrests and imprisons critics, oppresses and executes the Shia religious minority, and does not adequately protect women in law from discrimination and sexual violence,“ the Amnesty report claims.
Turning to Europe, the happiest in the old continent are the people of Iceland. Despite the high percentage of divorces and women working out of homes, the satisfaction is still high. This cold country has received the tenth position, along with China.
On the other end of the scale is Italy, where people are those who are without any hope.
However, happiness might be defined in as many modes and as many people as we ask. This survey has shown the different perspectives from which happiness can be given and is perceived. Being happy means the achievement of material wealth, ideological freedom, political stability or health, or none of them. The contentedness is individual and does not have any concrete definition.