Why Canada is one of the happiest nations

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24 April 2015

It’s fun to be a princess! A little girl plays dress-up at Westcoast Families Centre, funded in part by United Way.

There is something about cold countries, speculates Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Brahman in a piece in today’s Vancouver Sun. The top five happiest nations in the world are Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Canada. Perhaps not surprisingly, all of the happiest nations are also wealthy. In determining what it means to be happy, the UN World Happiness Report takes into account peoples’ own evaluations of their lives and considers factors including real GDP per capita, health and life expectancy, perceptions of corruption, social support and the freedom to make life decisions. Happiness is increasingly considered a good measure of social progress and a goal of public policy. Over the years, according to the report, the data and analysis in the Happiness Report has “helped to satisfy, and perhaps to fuel, growing public interest in applying the science of happiness to public affairs.” An interesting finding in the report is that if unhappy people are trained to cultivate mindfulness, kindness and generosity, their brain circuits can be rewired. Another takeaway of the report is that the well-being of countries depends on individuals being able to make decisions for the common good. The best societies are those where individuals act honestly and benevolently, and where they trust that others do the same. United Way’s vision is a healthy, caring and inclusive community. Sounds like that’s also the formula for a happy community.

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