Friday, July 11, 2008

Happy People, Happy World

According to the publication "Perspective of Psychological Science," a recent study shows that the world is becoming a happier place. Pause. Failure to illicit favorable reaction, I began to read on. Manila Times detailed that the study gathered up data from national surveys conducted between 1981 and 2006. It was collated by the researchers in the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. In it's, it showed that happiness "was on the rise in 40 out of 52 countries. Also, in a total of 97 countries, representing 90% of the world's population, only 20 countries were found to be unhappy." (Manilatimes) According to the study, countries like India, Ireland, Mexico, Puerto Rico and South Korea have showed excellent happiness records last year followed by Argentina, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Spain and Sweden.

Happiness levels are greatly affected by the economic conditions of a specific country and the freedom that it enjoys in its state. It's quite acceptable to know that Democratic countries are often happier than non-democratic countries. Countries that enable majority of people to improve or even enjoy stagnant comforts and securities make their citizens happy.

Philippines may not be the perfect country. In fact we're lagging behind, but it doesn't mean that we're unhappy people. Happiness goes beyond the physical state. Sometimes, we just have to fool ourselves and find a way to make Happiness as a default. We may be deprived in a lot of things, but we still value an ounce of happiness and what it can do for us and for the country, otherwise we would be killing each other off.

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