this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2025
1219 points (99.1% liked)

World News

46763 readers
3061 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Finland is named the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, according to the World Happiness Report 2025 published Thursday.

Other Nordic countries are also once again at the top of the happiness rankings in the annual report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. Besides Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden remain the top four and in the same order.

Country rankings were based on answers people give when asked to rate their own lives. The study was done in partnership with the analytics firm Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

When it comes to decreasing happiness — or growing unhappiness —the United States has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. The report states that the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53% over the past two decades.

Nation Table

(page 3) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Azal@pawb.social 18 points 2 months ago (3 children)

US here.

I'm betting we'll be outright giddy this year compared to next year.

[–] Tja@programming.dev 22 points 2 months ago

I don't think so. Next year being sad will be illegal.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world 21 points 2 months ago

How shitty are things in India when...

[–] Ataraxia@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'd move back to Europe and live there but I'm too worried about Russia.

[–] Muffi@programming.dev 10 points 2 months ago

Distance will not provide you any additional safety when the nukes start flying anyway. Come back and your last time here with us.

[–] ouch@lemmy.world 19 points 2 months ago

As a finn, I can confirm I'm the happiest person in the world for the whole week it's sunny and doesn't rain during the summer!

Suomen kesä on kaunis ja vähäluminen.

Also, if you make it through the darkness of November alive, you must have built so much mental resiliency that rest of the year is walk in the park regardless of what happens.

[–] alkbch@lemmy.ml -3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

There’s no way. It’s dark half the year and every Finnish people I met didn’t look happy at all, or at least they didn’t express it whatsoever.

[–] BlackSheep@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

Well, when you are as happy and content as Finland, there is no dark.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] robocall@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

I am American and can confirm I feel like this.

[–] allo@sh.itjust.works 23 points 2 months ago (1 children)

meanwhile, in America...

"oooh, unhappiness? how dreadfully monetizeable!"

starts big pharma antidepressants corporation

[–] CalipherJones@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago

The dining alone hits. The lack of community is palpable in corporate America.

[–] Captain_J@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

Understandable, especially with what's going on here.

[–] CandleTiger@programming.dev 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I thought Finland and Nordic countries were notoriously depressed all winter??

[–] MeThisGuy@feddit.nl 4 points 2 months ago

that's just the loganberries talking.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 months ago

And Canada appears to have reduced happiness, I suspect due in part to our proximity to the USA.

[–] kerchow@lemm.ee 8 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The United States is still at 24th, where do they rank amongst first world countries?

[–] SchwertImStein@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)

they kinda don't rank amongst 1st world countries

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Midvikudagur@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 61 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Back in 1960, the US minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the average US home was $11,000.00

In 'Hell's Angels' Hunter Thompson had a chapter about the economics of being a biker/hippie/artist circa 1970. Six months of a full time Union job as a stevedore paid enough for a biker to hit the road for two years. A part time waitress could afford to support herself and her musician boyfriend.

Of course people were happy here.

[–] CalipherJones@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You know what hilarious?

There's a sub minimum wage in America for people that earn tips (minimum of 30$ in tips a month), youths, and the disabled.

Sub minimum wage is a whopping 2.13$

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] arakhis_@feddit.org 86 points 2 months ago (2 children)

“Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth — it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back,” said Jon Clifton, the CEO of Gallup. “If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other.”

Damn that was very well said

[–] CalipherJones@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wealth is just the hoarding of imaginary credits representing the hours of other people's work.

"When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money."

Destruction of our society and pollution of our only Earth for paper strips.

[–] Qwazpoi@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

"They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them"

[–] derpgon@programming.dev 33 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Going out without worrying about getting robbed, killed, eating food that's gonna upset your tummy because someone neglected health regulations, slipping on a turd on the sidewalk someone deliberately didn't clean up after their dog, overpaying for stuff, getting fucked by the government (be it taxes, inflation, stupid rules).

Yet politicians getting paid in cold hard cash for approving overpriced shit so some wealthy fuck can fill his pockets even more.

We could constructing a Dyson sphere if it wasn't for fuckers that siphon the money that could be used to improve everyone's life.

[–] Ragnor@feddit.dk 18 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Well, the taxes we have here in Denmark are quite high. We either have the fourth highest rate of tax compared to GDP or the highest, depending on which source you go by. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_tax_revenue_to_GDP_ratio

The thing is just that taxes means that the money gets spent directly on improving the lives of the people who live here, instead of people having to buy stuff like health care through companies that skim off the top, and who uses the money you pay them to employ people who try to find ways to not help you.

Taxes helps ensure that everything runs efficiently. A healthier population who are more productive, infrastructure that prevents disruptions to business and daily lives alike, and ensuring that people don't have to resort to crime if they lose their job or get ill. Crime is another source of inefficiency that gets significantly reduced.

Everything helps ensure that the average person is in a much better state of mind, and mood is contagious - even those who pay the most benefit off of it, and pretty much everyone here agrees that it's money well spent.

In Danish politics, even the right wing would be considered leftists in the US - we have a lot of political parties (16 in parliament, with 4 of them being from the Faeroe Islands or Greenland).

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments