What do Israel, Canada, Switzerland and Australia all have in common?
Give up? These countries are all tied for 8th place in the happy citizen index. Arutz Sheva.
Israelis are among the happiest people in the world, according to a new Gallup Poll published this week by Forbes magazine. Israel was tied with three other countries for eighth place, placing far ahead of the United States and Britain.
(…)Following the four Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden atop the list, the next three rankings were shared by Holland, Costa Rica and New Zealand, with only a percentage point putting them ahead of the four-way tie among Israel, Canada, Switzerland and Australia. All four of the latter tallied a 62 percent report of people whose lives are thriving. The United States, where only 57 percent of the population are happy, was in 14th place, tied with Australia. The United Kingdom was in 17th pace, with a score of only 54 percent.
Despite Finland’s high ranking, it has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, and Denmark’s alcohol consumption is among the ten highest in the world. On the other hand, Israel has one of the lowest suicide rates, as well as a high fertility rate, another indication that Israelis are happy.
So its nice to know during my opt-out year I will be replacing one happy place with another happy place. Speaking of learning Hebrew, if you ever needed a daily exercise in humiliation, learning Hebrew is a sure fire way to go. And I haven’t even gotten to the point where I have misused the slang yet!
