Happiness is...
Do you remember those rather trite messages which started off: 'happiness is... ' and ended in something banal like '... walking barefoot inthe park' or something? Well, according to the annual 'World Database of Happiness', happiness is... living in Malta:
According to an annual World Database of Happiness compiled by Rotterdam Erasmus University Prof Ruut Veenhoven, Malta is the happiest place on earth. African News Dimension (AND) reported that the study shows that 74 per cent of Maltese people said they are happy, followed by Denmark, Switzerland and Columbia with 73 per cent.
You can read the full article on maltamedia.com.
EH?!? 74 per cent of Maltese people said they are happy?!? But I thought we were a nation of moaners? We moan about everything from the moment we wake up until the moment we fall asleep. All over Malta, in grocery stores, parties, offices, homes, all one hears is people complaining about something! At the very least, we moan about taxes, we moan about the prices of things, we moan about the state of the roads (we even moan when the roads finally are fixed, complaining that it's for the Queen's benefit and not ours).
For goodness sake, we even moan about the weather - which is ridiculous, considering that we have approximately, what, 5 months of sunshine on average?!
Maybe we're a nation of schizophrenics - outwardly moany and inwardly content? Maybe many of the 74 per cent lied when they filled out the survey? Or maybe they misunderstood the questionand read UN-happiness instead?! Heh!
According to an annual World Database of Happiness compiled by Rotterdam Erasmus University Prof Ruut Veenhoven, Malta is the happiest place on earth. African News Dimension (AND) reported that the study shows that 74 per cent of Maltese people said they are happy, followed by Denmark, Switzerland and Columbia with 73 per cent.
You can read the full article on maltamedia.com.
EH?!? 74 per cent of Maltese people said they are happy?!? But I thought we were a nation of moaners? We moan about everything from the moment we wake up until the moment we fall asleep. All over Malta, in grocery stores, parties, offices, homes, all one hears is people complaining about something! At the very least, we moan about taxes, we moan about the prices of things, we moan about the state of the roads (we even moan when the roads finally are fixed, complaining that it's for the Queen's benefit and not ours).
For goodness sake, we even moan about the weather - which is ridiculous, considering that we have approximately, what, 5 months of sunshine on average?!
Maybe we're a nation of schizophrenics - outwardly moany and inwardly content? Maybe many of the 74 per cent lied when they filled out the survey? Or maybe they misunderstood the questionand read UN-happiness instead?! Heh!
posted by princess buttercup @ 9:39 AM
8 Comments:
At 10:09 AM,
sharonspiteri said…
Hehehehe my boss told me about this only yesterday, she asked me to find her a job in Malta! I can't understand it either, that's exactly what I said, that it can't be true because we complain all the time and about everything... I may just write to the professor and ask to see his data *lol*
At 1:24 PM,
Anonymous said…
I think the fundamental flaw in your reasoning my dear reesa is that you are assuming that the level of moaning is in any way an indication to the level of happiness - or the country's 'status felicitus'.
It is true that we Maltese complain... a lot. We complain about everything and if there was nothing to complain about, we'd complain about that. However we also love our drama and I often think that many Maltese are at their happiest when they're in the middle of a big scene.
By the way, in case you're wondering - I did make up 'status felicitus' but it sounds pretty good eh?
At 3:23 PM,
princess buttercup said…
Sha - I tried to look it up on the 'net but only found this: http://www1.eur.nl/fsw/happiness/ which doesn't seem to have been updated recently.
mal - now, I get it! The Maltese are happy in their moaniness (if you can make up words, then so can I hehehe!)
At 8:39 PM,
MaltaGirl said…
I think it also depends on WHO actually asked the people. Mike had to interview people for his thesis so he taught me a bit about people trying to fulfil the expectations of the interviewer. I'm sure Sharon could further educate us on this :-) You know, it's OK for me to pick on my sister, but if anyone else picks on her, then I will defend her all guns blazing (awwww).
At 8:48 AM,
Hsejjes said…
Wow! I wonder what my percentage of happiness would be, seeing that I am married to a Dane and they did come a close second!! :) Must trash it out with hubby....Maybe it is the level of alcohol induced inebriation that makes the Danes a happy country...or maybe the brilliant state of their roads...The mind boggles.
At 5:31 PM,
Coemgen said…
Hopefully the study was not conducted by interviews!
At 12:14 PM,
Kenneth said…
For goodness sake, we even moan about the weather - which is ridiculous, considering that we have approximately, what, 5 months of sunshine on average
How can you not moan about the weather. Take the doom and gloom of January's cloudy days until today. 5 months of sunshine are too few for a country like Malta. We're not in the North Pole, we're in the Med!
Aside from that, I am still baffled by the results. I think the population sample was not well chosen and so it doesn't reflect our reality...
In any case, I can now moan that I'm in that 27% minority and that this country should pay more attention to my needs as I feel that I am being constantly neglected by the majority. Compensate me, Dr Gonzi... come on.
At 12:24 PM,
Coemgen said…
you'll die waiting Ken!
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