The ‘Happiest People on Earth’

Is there a happy gene in the genomes of the happiest people on the planet? Or is happiness something in the cool, clean air of their surroundings ?

Is it a place of freedom and opportunity, where the very rich are few and the poor, as we know them, are nonexistent? A land where people live long and relatively carefree lives, knowing that their welfare state will adequately take care of their financial, educational, medical and old-age problems? Does it come from a peace of mind born of the confidence that people can leave their cars and bicycles unlocked, without someone stealing them? A culture of trust, camaraderie, and civility so strong that people live with hardly any fear that violence would someday rudely interrupt their lives?

Is it a society without racial and religious strife, one based on meritocracy tempered with responsibility, where status and titles don’t carry as much weight as a person’s true worth measured in integrity, commitment to equality, social skills, and family values?

The perennial winner of such a distinction is, of course, Denmark, a friendly, seriously egalitarian Nordic country known for its spirit of “hygge,” which is popularly interpreted as the need for coziness and neighborliness.

If the landmark 2013 United-Nations-sponsored “Happiest People on Earth” award (covering 156 countries) is any guide, Denmark stands out, in the Gini and happiness coefficient, primus inter pares, among the fully developed countries in the world.

The other current winners were, in descending order, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Austria,Iceland and Australia.

In 2012, the UN declared March 20 the International Day of Happiness, recognizing the importance of happiness and wellbeing as realizable universal goals and aspirations for humankind.

Ironically, the UN declaration seems to make happiness obscene in the face of so many impoverished countries and wretched peoples that live well below the Nordic line. Not missing a cue, Forbes published its “Saddest People” in the world index this year, which not surprisingly included countries like Ethiopia, Rwanda, Pakistan, Nigeria, Honduras, Iran, and Mali in its short list.

Not to be outdone, Gallup and Heathways Global came up recently with a 135-nation, Third-World-friendly award which named Panama as tops in the happiness category, followed closely by its neighbor, Costa Rica. Denmark trailed a distant third.

The fact that the Philippines was not even mentioned in the top 10 list of countries in both international surveys must have disappointed many Filipinos who take inordinate pride in being among the happiest people in the world. I have always viewed this spurious claim as nonsense.

Can a land of marked disparities in income and wealth, of pervasive, deep-seated corruption, and rampant lawlessness in the form of robberies, kidnappings, and killings (8,484 homicides according to a United Nations report in 2012), really be a sound basis for a people’s happiness, or aspirations for a better future? More accurately, it is the Filipinos’ resiliency and capacity for suffering that clearly stands out, in this perspective. Hence the disarming demeanor of “happiness” on our collective face, as in: smiling on the outside and crying in the inside. Just like Robin Williams.

Let us for a moment suspend these candid reflections and invite a Socratic gadfly to test Filipinos’ claim of happiness, according to a variant of the UN criteria. Surely, the gadfly would make mincemeat of our people’s smug pride, with these three simple questions:

• Are you happy with your present lot, and do you expect a better future here for your children?

• Are you pleased with the horrendous daily traffic jams that afflict you and the commuting public?

• Are you content with the widespread violence and corruption in our land?

The imaginary gadfly would surely skip Denmark because those three questions would not be applicable to that happy Scandinavian country. Denmark’s IMF (International Monetary Fund)-certified “highest-in-the-world” $20-an-hour average minimum wage (not including pension benefits) and welfare state effectively dismiss question No. 1. An orderly and efficient public transport system and the Danes’ preference for bicycles and walking make No. 2 meaningless. And, near-zero corruption and the astonishingly low crime rate (a piddling 25 homicides in a population of over 5 million) do away with No. 3. And there is that accolade from the World Bank: “the easiest place to do business in Europe.”

This doesn’t mean Denmark is my cup of tea and that I am dying to migrate there. Hell, the place is too tidy, too predictable, and over-regulated to suit me. The absence of chaos and social tension in that happy land would also be boringly annoying.

I prefer some Darwinian and physical uncertainties in life, such as not knowing whether I would be able to make it on time for an important appointment, as I endure Edsa’s every-man-for-himself gridlock—or if the next typhoon would spare my newly planted fruit trees in my small farm in Romblon.

The very suspense, clutter, and randomness of it all, Philippine-style, make life still worth living here.

Narciso M. Reyes Jr. (ngreyes1640@hotmail.com) is a former journalist and diplomat.