[p2p-research] People happier under Soviet-styled socialism?

[Andy Robinson]

Well, I do wonder how much of a transition has happened in some of the
countries.  And many of them have undergone quite drastic economic decline.
I've also read that Iraqis consistently rate themselves as having been
happier under Saddam than today, contrary to western expectations.

If you haven't seen it yet, have a look at this:
http://sturpedesign.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/world_map_of_happiness1.jpg
Russia and several of its former satellites are actually in the bottom
category, along with war-torn African states in extreme poverty, and behind
most of the global South (despite having a much higher standard of living).
There are also some very poor countries in the top bracket - these include
quasi-socialist Venezuela, quasi-indigenous isolationist states Oman and
Bhutan, and army-free Costa Rica.  In the next bracket are Colombia (why?!),
Mongolia - another largely indigenous society - and Saudi Arabia (wtf).
Notice welfare-state-rich Scandinavia, Benelux, New Zealand and Canada in
the top category (along with America - as it would expect with over 50% as
much wealth as the next contender), but Britain and France underperforming.


Of course, the danger with happiness rankings is they're subjective - we
don't know who people are comparing themselves to (how happy they think
others are), whether they under- or overestimate due to cultural biases,
whether they're happy because of ignorance or informed comparison, etc.

bw
Andy
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