Aus ranks 139th in happiness rankings

[pace]

I was actully suprised to see this report.
Vanuatu,Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica and Panama complete the top five of happiness, even more suprising.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1684800.htm

"Aside from Australia, island nations performed particularly well in the ranking.

Marke Lowen of Vanuatu Online, the republic's online newspaper, asked The Guardian, "Don't tell too many people, please".
"People are generally happy here because they are very satisfied with very little," he said.
"This is not a consumer-driven society. Life here is about community and family and goodwill to other people.
"It's a place where you don't worry too much."


It is unfortunate to see that we have been brought up in a society that is hell bent on material things, more the better, bigger is better mentality, when obviously the simple things in life we get much more satisfation out of, like the footie.

[sherrife]

It's all about Western Liberalism guys, putting yourself before others just doesn't lead to happiness. Objects don't create happiness.

Only people can make people happy. Family, friends, community, these are things that truly matter. I'm going to a Costa Rican village in the summer, and I bet that there will be really tight family and communal bonds, whereas here people often see their families just once or twice every year.

[Didaicos]

But I thought in Australia interest rates were the most important thing?

[London Dave]

[David]

Very true sherrife. People do seem to equate personal success and/or wealth with Happiness, and while those two can be factors, true happiness is being happy with yourself, and I'm sure having a good close community can achieve that. Not surprised at all that we're so low in the happiness stakes.

[Didaicos]

[johno]

Vanuatu..must be all the Kava

[HAL]

Who are you talking about?

[Cathalyst]

The more you have the less happy you are