Venezuelans are the Third Happiest People in the World
In spite of the pessimistic and negative panorama painted by Catholic Church officials, other opposition leaders, and the media, a scientific research shows that Venezuelans feel very happy.
| Happy Venezuelans celebrating the first anniversary of the defeat of the coup d’etat of April 2002 against President Chávez. Photo Credit: Aporrea.org |
Venezuelan Catholic Church officials, openly opposed to the current government, recently distributed in all churches around the country a pamphlet calling for “peace” and describing Venezuelans as “demoralized, pesimistic about the country’s future, anxious and living under uncertainty”, all of course because of President Chavez’s government.
However, science once again helps uncover the truth. A Reuters wire citing a study published in New Scientist magazine, shows that Venezuela ranks third among 65 countries surveyed with highest number of people describing as being “happy”.
The Reuters piece follows:
It is difficult to quantify and differs between cultures, professions and religions but it seems people in Nigeria and Latin America are happier than their counterparts in eastern Europe and Russia.
An analysis of levels of happiness in more than 65 countries by the World Values Survey shows Nigeria has the highest percentage of happy people followed by Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador and Puerto Rico, while Russia, Armenia and Romania have the fewest.
“New Zealand ranked 15 for overall satisfaction, the US 16th, Australia 20th and Britain 24th, though Australia beats the other three for day-to-day happiness,” New Scientist magazine, which published the results, said.
But the weekly magazine says factors that make people happy vary.
Personal success, self-expression, pride and a high sense of self-esteem are important in the United States.
| “Chavez drove them crazy” Young Venezuelan celebrates the first anniversary of the defeat of the coup d’etat of April 2002 against President Chávez. Photo Credit: Aporrea.org |
“In Japan, on the other hand, it comes from fulfilling the expectations of your family, meeting your social responsibilities, self-discipline, cooperation and friendliness,” according to the magazine.
The survey is a worldwide investigation of sociocultural and political change conducted about every four years by an international network of social scientists.
It includes questions about how happy people are and how satisfied they are with their lives.
It showed that average happiness has remained virtually the same in industrialised countries since World War Two, although incomes have risen.
The exception is Denmark, where people have become more satisfied with life over the last three decades.
Researchers believe the unchanging trend is linked to consumerism.
“Survey after survey has shown that the desire for material goods, which has increased hand in hand with average income, is a happiness suppressant,” the magazine added.