영국 라이세스터 대학의 심리학자들이 발표한 세계 각국의 행복지수 랭킹을 보면 행복은 재산과 반드시 비례하지는 않는다는 것을 알 수 있다. 재산은 행복감의 절대 조건은 아니지만 가장 중요한 조건임엔 틀림이 없다. 각국 국민들이 느끼는 주관적 행복도를 조사해보니 상위 20위는 이런 나라들이었다.

1 - Denmark

2 - Switzerland

3 - Austria

4 - Iceland

5 - The Bahamas

6 - Finland

7 - Sweden

8 - Bhutan

9 - Brunei

10 - Canada

11 - Ireland

12 - Luxembourg

13 - Costa Rica

14 - Malta

15 - The Netherlands

16 - Antigua and Barbuda

17 - Malaysia

18 - New Zealand

19 - Norway

20 - The Seychelles

上記 20개국중 12개 나라는 1인당 국민소득이 30등 안에 들고 거의 전부가 민주국가이며 국제청렴도 조사에서 상위에 오른다. 178개국중 여덟번째로 행복한 부탄은 인도와 중국 사이에 있는 인구 약60만 명(면적은 남한의 半)의 작은 나라이다. 1인당 국민소득은 구매력 기준으로 1400 달러(세계 179개국중 119등)이고 평균 수명도 62세이다. 부탄은 민주국가도 아니다. 세습 절대왕조의 국가인데 내년에 처음 국회가 도입된다. 이 나라는 농업, 林業, 수력발전의 수출로 먹고산다.

하나 특기할 만한 점은 이 나라는 국제청렴도 조사에서 세계 179개국중 46위로 매우 높다는 점이다. 청렴도는 公職사회의 지수인데 대체로 부자나라가 깨끗하고 가난한 나라는 부패한다. 부탄은 세계에서 가장 가난한 나라에 속하면서도 공직사회의 청렴도는 한국과 거의 비슷하다. 한국의 청렴도 랭킹은 179개국중 43위이다. 한국의 행복도는 1인당 국민소득 랭킹(34위)이나 삶의 질 랭킹(29위)보다도 훨씬 낮은 103등이다. 행복도는 욕심과 반비례한다고 한다. 한국인의 욕심과 야심이 객관적 행복조건에도 불구하고 주관적 행복도를 낮추는 것 같다. 국민행복도 랭킹에서 특기할 만한 나라의 순위는 아래와 같다.

23 - USA

35 - Germany

41 - UK

62 - France

82 - China

90 - Japan

125 - India

167 - Russia

통계에 잡히지 않는 북한을 제외하고 가장 불행한 국민들은 아래 세 나라이다.

176 - Democratic Republic of the Congo

177 - Zimbabwe

178 - Burundi

세 나라 모두 內戰이나 지독한 독재자가 있는 가난한 나라이다. 한국은 100 여 등이다.
================================================================
NEWS - PRESS RELEASES


The data used to construct the map were extracted from a meta-analysis published by the New Economics Foundation (Marks, N. et al. (2006). The Happy Planet Index. London: New Economics Foundation). Picture Credit: Adrian White, Psychology
University of Leicester Produces the first ever World Map of Happiness

Happiness is ...being Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

A University of Leicester psychologist has produced the first ever ‘world map of happiness.’

Adrian White, an analytic social psychologist at the University’s School of Psychology, analysed data published by UNESCO, the CIA, the New Economics Foundation, the WHO, the Veenhoven Database, the Latinbarometer, the Afrobarometer, and the UNHDR, to create a global projection of subjective well-being: the first world map of happiness.

The projection, which is to be published in a Psychtalk in March 2007, will be presented at a conference later in the year. Participants in the various studies were asked questions related to happiness and satisfaction with life. The meta-analysis is based on the findings of over 100 different studies around the world, which questioned 80,000 people worldwide. For this study data has also been analysed in relation to health, wealth and access to education.

Whilst collecting data on subjective well-being is not an exact science, the measures used are very reliable in predicting health and welfare outcomes. It can be argued that whilst these measures are not perfect they are the best we have so far, and these are the measures that politicians are talking of using to measure the relative performance of each country.

The researchers have argued that regular testing as a collaboration between academics in different countries would enable us to track changes in happiness, and what events may cause that. For example what effect would a war, or famine, or national success have on a country's members' happiness. .

Adrian White said:

“The concept of happiness, or satisfaction with life, is currently a major area of research in economics and psychology, most closely associated with new developments in positive psychology. It has also become a feature in the current political discourse in the UK.

'There is increasing political interest in using measures of happiness as a national indicator in conjunction with measures of wealth. A recent BBC survey found that 81% of the population think the Government should focus on making us happier rather than wealthier.

“It is worth remembering that the UK is doing relatively well in this area, coming 41st out of 178 nations.

'Further analysis showed that a nation's level of happiness was most closely associated with health levels (correlation of .62), followed by wealth (.52), and then provision of education (.51).

'The three predictor variables of health, wealth and education were also very closely associated with each other, illustrating the interdependence of these factors.

“There is a belief that capitalism leads to unhappy people. However, when people are asked if they are happy with their lives, people in countries with good healthcare, a higher GDP per captia, and access to education were much more likely to report being happy.

“We were surprised to see countries in Asia scoring so low, with China 82nd, Japan 90th and India 125th. These are countries that are thought as having a strong sense of collective identity which other researchers have associated with well-being.

'It is also notable that many of the largest countries in terms of population do quite badly. With China 82nd, India 125th and Russia 167th it is interesting to note that larger populations are not associated with happy countries.'

“The frustrations of modern life, and the anxieties of the age, seem to be much less significant compared to the health, financial and educational needs in other parts of the World. The current concern with happiness levels in the UK may well be a case of the 'worried well'.'

'I have used data on happiness published by the New Economics Foundation (Marks, N., Abdallah, S., Simms, A, Thompson, S.(2006). The Happy Planet Index. London: New Economics Foundation). I have also sourced data from UNESCO on access to schooling, from the WHO on life expectancy, and from the CIA on GDP per capita. I have then performed new analysis with this data to come to a unique and novel set of results; specifically the extent of correlation between measures of poverty, health and education, and the variable of happiness. I have also presented the data on happiness in the form of a global projection, the 'World Map of Happiness'.'

The 20 happiest nations in the World are:

1 - Denmark

2 - Switzerland

3 - Austria

4 - Iceland

5 - The Bahamas

6 - Finland

7 - Sweden

8 - Bhutan

9 - Brunei

10 - Canada

11 - Ireland

12 - Luxembourg

13 - Costa Rica

14 - Malta

15 - The Netherlands

16 - Antigua and Barbuda

17 - Malaysia

18 - New Zealand

19 - Norway

20 - The Seychelles

Other notable results include:

23 - USA

35 - Germany

41 - UK

62 - France

82 - China

90 - Japan

125 - India

167 - Russia

The three least happy countries were:

176 - Democratic Republic of the Congo

177 - Zimbabwe

178 - Burundi

Note to Newsdesk:

Adrian White, Analytic Social Psychologist at the University of Leicester produces first ever global projection of international differences in subjective well-being; the first ever World Map of Happiness. You can view his paper entitled 'A Global Projection of Subjective Well-being: A Challenge to Positive Psychology? here

UK 41st out of 178 countries for happiness.

Happiness is found to be most closely associated with health, followed by wealth and then education.

High Definition Formats are available from University of Leicester press office: email pressoffice@le.ac.uk

DENMARK 273
SWITZERLAND 273
AUSTRIA 260
ICELAND 260
BAHAMAS 257
FINLAND 257
SWEDEN 257
BHUTAN 253
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM 253
CANADA 253
IRELAND 253
LUXEMBOURG 253
COSTA RICA 250
MALTA 250
NETHERLANDS 250
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 247
MALAYSIA 247
NEW ZEALAND 247
NORWAY 247
SEYCHELLES 247
ST KITTS AND NEVIS 247
UAE 247
USA 247
VANUATU 247
VENEZUELA 247
AUSTRALIA 243
BARBADOS 243
BELGIUM 243
DOMINICA 243
OMAN 243
SAUDI ARABIA 243
SURINAME 243
BAHRAIN 240
COLUMBIA 240
GERMANY 240
GUYANA 240
HONDURAS 240
KUWAIT 240
PANAMA 240
ST VINCENT AND THE 240
UNITED KINGDOM 237
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 233
GUATEMALA 233
JAMAICA 233
QATAR 233
SPAIN 233
ST LUCIA 233
BELIZE 230
CYPRUS 230
ITALY 230
MEXICO 230
SAMOA WESTERN 230
SINGAPORE 230
SOLOMON ISLANDS 230
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 230
ARGENTINA 227
FIJI 223
ISRAEL 223
MONGOLIA 223
SAO TOME AND PERINI 223
EL SALVADOR 220
FRANCE 220
HONG KONG 220
INDONESIA 220
KYRGYZSTAN 220
MALDIVES 220
SLOVENIA 220
TAIWAN 220
TIMOR-LESTE 220
TONGA 220
CHILE 217
GRENADA 217
MAURITIUS 217
NAMIBIA 217
PARAGUAY 217
THAILAND 217
CZECH REPUBLIC 213
PHILIPPINES 213
TUNISIA 213
UZBEKISTAN 213
BRAZIL 210
CHINA 210
CUBA 210
GREECE 210
NICARAGUA 210
PAPUA NEW GUINEA 210
URUGUAY 210
GABON 207
GHANA 207
JAPAN 207
YEMEN 207
PORTUGAL 203
SRI LANKA 203
TAJIKISTAN 203
VIETNAM 203
IRAN 200
COMOROS 197
CROATIA 197
POLAND 197
CAPE VERDI 193
KAZAKHSTAN 193
MADAGASCAR 193
SOUTH KOREA 193
BANGLADESH 190
CONGO REPUBLIC 190
GAMBIA 190
HUNGARY 190
LIBYA 190
SOUTH AFRICA 190
CAMBODIA 187
ECUADOR 187
KENYA 187
LEBANON 187
MOROCCO 187
PERU 187
SENEGAL 187
BOLIVIA 183
HAITI 183
NEPAL 183
NIGERIA 183
TANZANIA 183
BENIN 180
BOTSWANA 180
GUINEA-BISSAU 180
INDIA 180
LAOS 180
MOZAMBIQUE 180
PALESTINE 180
SLOVAKIA 180
BURMA 177
MALI 177
MAURITANIA 177
TURKEY 177
ALGERIA 173
EQUATORIAL GUINEA 173
ROMANIA 173
BOSNIA & HERZE 170
CAMEROON 170
ESTONIA 170
GUINEA 170
JORDAN 170
SYRIA 170
SIERRA LEONE 167
AZERBAIJAN 163
CENTRAL AFRICAN RE 163
MACEDONIA 163
TOGO 163
ZAMBIA 163
ANGOLA 160
DJIBOUTI 160
EGYPT 160
BURKINA FASO 157
ETHIOPIA 157
LATVIA 157
LITHUANIA 157
UGANDA 157
ALBANIA 153
MALAWI 153
CHAD 150
IVORY COAST 150
NIGER 150
ERITREA 147
RWANDA 147
BULGARIA 143
LESOTHO 143
PAKISTAN 143
RUSSIA 143
SWAZILAND 140
GEORGIA 137
BELARUS 133
TURKMENISTAN 133
ARMENIA 123
SUDAN 120
UKRAINE 120
MOLDOVA 117
CONGO DEMOCRATIC 110
ZIMBABWE 110
BURUNDI 100