For the 6th year in a row, Finland was determined to be the happiest country on Earth by "The World Happiness Report", beating Denmark at 2nd and Iceland at 3rd. The Unites States came in at 16th, while not surprisingly, Afghanistan ranked at the bottom of the list of the 137 countries surveyed.
So what do those countries at the top have in common that we here in the U.S. don’t? The authors of the report cited 5 key factors that were considered: social support, income, health, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption.
Social support: The rate of homelessness is falling in Finland, while ours is increasing, and while food insecurity is virtually non-existent in Finland, our rate hovers around 10%.
Income: The wealthiest 1% of Americans control 16 times more wealth than the bottom 50%, but in Finland the inequality of income distribution is less than 4%.
Health: Finland has free, universal health care while 10% of Americans have no health insurance.
Freedom: Abortion is free and widely accepted in Finland, while women in 13 of our states have lost the freedom to choose
Generosity: Here we excel! The U.S. is the most generous country in the world!
Corruption: The U.S. Congress has an 18% approval rating and confidence in our Supreme Court has plummeted to 25%, while 92% of Finlanders support their current administration.
What's it all about anyway?
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