Global Happiness Heatmap

Kudos to Drew Meyers for picking up a report of the happiest nations in the world.  The study, conducted by the University of Leicester, analyzed various factors associated with happiness to rank  the overall happiness of a nation.  They then created a heat map illustrating the relative happiness of all the countries across the globe. 

According to this survey, the top 10 happiest countries are:
1.  Denmark
2.  Switzerland
3.  Austria
4.  Iceland
5.  The Bahamas
6.  Finland
7.  Sweden
8.  Bhutan
9.  Brunei
10.Canada
and the 3 unhappiest (saddest?) nations of the world are all located in Africa:
176. Democratic Republic of the Congo
177. Zimbabwe
178. Burundi

I have highlighted the 10 happiest and 3 unhappiest nations, as well as a few other notable countries on their map.  (I have a confession to make to my 8th grade geography teacher who made us memorize the world map: I had to look up where Burundi was...I'm sorry)   
*Click the image for a larger view*

 

Drew makes a good point that money can't buy happiness, as the United States is only the 23rd happiest country, despite having the largest economy.  (I guess military supremacy can't buy happiness either.)  For more information on comparing the happiest countries with economic activity, check out the global economic activity heat map. 

Comments

[Colleen Corgan]

As I said in the post, I had to look up Burundi. Anyway, I decided to do find out a little about its history and society (b/c that's who I am.) Here's some interesting facts I learned from the CIA's "The World Factbook":
-- Slightly smaller than Maryland
-- Landlocked: bordered by the Dem Rep of Congo, Rwanda, and Tanzania
-- 62% Catholic, 5% Protestant, the rest native religion
-- The 1st "democratically elected" president was assassinated after 100 days, prompting intense civil strife b/w the waring factions, Hutu and Tutsi
-- Median age is 16.2 years old- (that is really low... med. age for US is around 36.5)
-- Infant mortality rate: 63.13 deaths/1000 live births- (that is really high... US- 6.43/1000)
-- Huge AIDS problem - in 2003, an estimated 250,000 people were LIVING with AIDS, in a population of only 8 mil

Find out more: https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/by.html