โ€ชThe list of happiest countries puts Finland at top, followed by Iceland, Denmark, Costa Rica, Sweden and Norway.

Clearly to be happy you need to freeze your ass off in the dark for half the year, and Costa Rica is a lot further north than I thought.

https://data.worldhappiness.report/table

(Apparently the huge number for Costa Rica's GDP per capita is bad, not good.)

@johncarlosbaez No, thatโ€™s the countryโ€™s ranking, so Norway is third and Costa Rica is way down the list in that criteria

@briandau @johncarlosbaez

Those stats are a bit weird. For example, the Freedom ranking is:
1) Viet Nam
2) Cambodia
3) Costa Rica
4) United Arab Emirates

@jgg @briandau @johncarlosbaez
They are ranking based on the question:
"Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?"
I assume more people chose "satisfied" than "dissatisfied"?

@BartoszMilewski @briandau @johncarlosbaez

Ugh. That's a pretty low bar.

I can't imagine anybody in North Korea saying he is unhappy to a foreigner.

Funny, I can't find North or South Korea in those stats.

@jgg @BartoszMilewski @briandau - South Korea is in there, pretty low: it's number 67, right after Kyrgyzstan.
@johncarlosbaez @jgg @briandau
This is very subjective. I think France is the best country, but it ranks 35th, with 114th rank in perceived freedom. It's probably because complaining is a national pastime in France ๐Ÿ˜‰
@BartoszMilewski @johncarlosbaez @jgg @briandau I think your logic checks out! Here in Finland, we also complain, but mostly only in private and especially not if interviewed for a survey like this! ๐Ÿ˜‚

@pyrtsa @BartoszMilewski @johncarlosbaez @briandau

Oh, in Spain it is hard to find somebody to interview who wants to say anything good about politicians. Even politicians themselves find hard saying anything good about other politicians.

Doing that would make most of people feel like weirdos, actually.