Stumbling across this:

http://www.livescience.com/51325-happiest-countries-2014.html

In the survey, researchers asked more than 146,000 people all over the world questions about five aspects of their well-being: their sense of purpose, social relationships, financial situations, community involvement and physical health. Based on their responses, participants were considered “thriving,” “struggling” or “suffering” in each of those five aspects.

My excerpt of the highest 7 scorers:

The other countries in the top 10, ranked by the percentage of people who were thriving in three or more aspects of well-being, were:

• Costa Rica: 47.6 percent
• Puerto Rico: 45.8 percent
• Switzerland: 39.4 percent
• Belize: 38.9 percent
• Chile: 38.7 percent
• Denmark: 37.0 percent
• Guatemala: 36.3 percent

Since I’m in Denmark, I’m not that surprised that we are in top of the global happiness pile – and this has been remarked upon several times in the American press over the past couple of years. Compared to the more pronounced stratification/inequality and higher incidence of poverty of the American society, the relative economic homogeneity of Denmark does concievably make people feel more alike and ‘together’.

Now, the puzzling thing is how several Latin-American countries pop to the top of the list, despite their less materially properous society. This alone indicates that absolute material abundance does not automatically carry with it happiness in life. Of course, it has been known for a while that meterial abundance for individuals and households only increases happiness up to a certain point, as which it does nothing at all.

Be that as it may, what caught my more sarcastic side wa the bottom of the pile:

The lowest ranking country, Afghanistan, had 0 percent of residents thriving in at least three aspects of their well-being, according to the findings. Other countries at the bottom of the rankings included:

• Bhutan: 3 percent
• Cameroon: 3.1 percent
• Togo: 3.9 percent
• Tunisia: 4.0 percent
• Congo Kinshasa: 4.1 percent

Why point this out?

Because Bhutan decided to abolish accounting their national prowess measured in GDP some years ago, and instead go with “Gross Domestic Happiness”. Judging from this, they failed miserably, with only Afghanistan scoring worse. Epic fail as they say.

What’s more is that Bhutan is a Buddhist country, something that would – naively – lead me to believe that it is nation of happy and content people, since Buddhism is as system of not as much acceptance of the state of things (which I would think leading to a degree of indifference towards material wealth), but rather insight into the state of things internal as external, and that this could lead to a generally more accomplished pursuance and achievement of the goals that pertain to the necessities of human life and happiness.

Apparently not. Of course, Buddhism nor any religion for that matter, in its various forms and interpretations is not (automatically) a shining … road… to happiness and peace, on the individual level or the societal level.

Yet we are all individuals, imperfect, confused, largely unknowing of the many intricacies of life and existence. And the execution of statecraft (as libertarians and anarchists know 🙂 has a life on its own,  tending to bend and pervert the principles it is founded upon, or upheld by its constituent populace.

Any Buddhism does not define its followers, or those who live in its vicinity. So while I know know that n-Buddhism is certainly imperfect, the fact that a country with a populace of plenty of deprivation and discontent, is formally Buddhist, is not an indictment of that belief system.

So there. Enough pocket fluff for now.