Where or how are we supposed to find happiness? Through good works and helping people, perhaps, or by finding religion or discovering the joys of "downshifting"? Well, maybe. But whatever strategy you choose, it'll help enormously if you live in Puerto Rico or Denmark. The latest global analysis of how levels of satisfaction and happiness vary from country to country shows that the most "satisfied" people tend to live in Latin America, Western Europe and North America. Eastern Europeans are the least satisfied. The figures ― published here for the first time ― come from the 1999-2001 World Values Survey (see Graphic, p 42). The countries where New Scientist has most readers all come in the top third, with New Zealand ranked 15th for overall satisfaction, the US 16th, Australia 2Oth and Britain 24th ― though Australia beats the other three for day-to-day happiness.
展开▼
