Happiness can actually be measured (evidently)
As I discovered about a month ago with an article in Forbes Magazine (October 29, 2013)
The Legatum Institute is a think tank dedicated to figuring out how to make the world a better place. Naturally, before you can fix something you’ve got to analyze and quantify it. For five years now Legatum has attempted to do just that with something it calls the Prosperity Index. To build the index Legatum’s elves incorporate “a mixture of traditional economic indicators alongside measurements of well-being and life satisfaction.” The result is a list of 142 countries, covering 96% of world population and 99% of global GDP, ranked from most to least prosperous — the Happiest and Saddest Countries in the world.
So who’s the happiest? As has been the case the past five years, that distinction goes to countries that enjoy peace, freedom, good healthcare, quality education, a functioning political system and plenty of opportunity:
TOP 20:
- Norway
- Switzerland
- Canada
- Sweden
- New Zealand
- Denmark
- Australia
- Finland
- Netherlands
- Luxembourg
- United States
- Ireland
- Iceland
- Germany
- Austria
- United Kingdom
- Belgium
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- France
The saddest, least prosperous? War-ravaged countries under the thumb of greedy despots and theocrats, where freedom of expression is limited, education nonexistent, violence the norm: Chad, Congo, Central African Republic, Afghanistan and Yemen.
Bottom of the pile:
142 = Chad
141 = Central African Republic
140 = Democratic Republic of The Congo
139 = Afghanistan
138 = Burundi
137 = Togo
136 = Yemen
135 = Guinea
134 = Haiti
133 = Angola
132 = Pakistan
131 = Cote d’Ivoire
130 = Iraq
You can see the whole list here at the Legatum Institute Website = http://www.prosperity.com/#!/
Hope you all find this to be as interesting as I did.
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Personally, I have to admit I am in Recovery Mode… I am happy in my marriage with Mr TTR… it is truly AWESOME.
BUT I am not where I thought I’d be in life overall. And that makes me sad. I am still 10+ years still playing “catch up” from my Divorce in many many ways. And that makes me sad.
But then Divorce is like it takes the wind out of you and causes a MAJOR SET BACK in life in soooo many ways.
Part of the reason I truly hope that my posts here on WBee for the women who are going thru emotional upheaval or indecision in relationships that are not healthy are helpful… it is soooo much easier overall to walk away from a Dating Relationship or an Engagement that isn’t working than it is to leave a Marriage and be able to move on without a lot of other issues / baggage.
And obviously the longer one is married, the harder it is to move forward with any sort of momentum.