By Judy Rickatson
Thinking of relocating to a tropical paradise and living happily ever after? You might want to think again. A report just released by a London based think tank ranks the top 5 countries based on wealth and wellbeing as Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway – all cold climates. How so? Well according to the Legatum Prosperity Index, economic success is part of it, but the highest levels of overall life satisfaction are reported in countries which score best in the areas of health, safety, freedom, trustworthiness in relationships and strong communities. Indeed money only has a significant impact on people’s happiness in the world’s poorest countries.
Eric Weiner, author of “The Geography of Bliss” would agree. After travelling the world as a foreign correspondent and reporting on some of the world’s worst problems, he decided to find out which were the happiest places in the world and why. He agrees that most of the happiest countries are cold and says Italy and France, which we normally associate with “joie de vivre”, both score lower than Switzerland. His theory is “get-along-or-die.” In cold countries people need to work together and co-operate in order to survive, but in the sun-soaked tropics, where your next meal literally falls from the trees, getting along with your neighbour isn’t so essential. He believes that a cold climate promotes a closeness of humanity which is one of the fundamental keys to happiness.
So which countries should we avoid? Well the bottom 5 countries on the Legatum list are Cameroon, Central African Republic, Yemen, Sudan and Zimbabwe – probably not high on most people’s possible destinations anyway. And America? It comes in at number 9. But if you simply MUST have sunshine, then try Australia, which makes the list at a still impressive 6th place.
About the author: Judy Rickatson publishes http://expatriatelife.wordpress.com/ an expatriate resource.
3 comments: