Happiest (and Unhappiest) Countries

[Foreigner]

Which is the world's happiest country? - Telegraph

Map provides snapshot of top and bottom ends.

 

[drron]

Well I have been to number 158 on the list-the world's unhappiest place,Togo,and what I enjoyed there was how happy the people were.

 

[n7of9]

...and i have been to Switzerland and one of the things i disliked was how unfriendly and arrogant the whole place seemed to me...happy people SMILE and LAUGH, whenever i did the Swiss looked at me like i was an uncouth psycho

 

[defurax]

..happy people SMILE and LAUGH, whenever i did the Swiss looked at me like i was an uncouth psycho

Did you do your laundry on the wrong day? Or other unforgivable offence...

 

[anat0l]

...and i have been to Switzerland and one of the things i disliked was how unfriendly and arrogant the whole place seemed to me...happy people SMILE and LAUGH, whenever i did the Swiss looked at me like i was an uncouth psycho

Oh, people do smile and laugh here (at least in my city, people are observed to be exchanging joy, particularly outside of work). Of course, if you were detected as a personne d'etranger or Auslander, that might not have worked in your favour. See below...

Did you do your laundry on the wrong day? Or other unforgivable offence...

Being in Switzerland, I can agree to some extent that these results are a bit stupid on how these people are the happiest on earth on average.

One of the indicators used was GDP. Yeah, I hope they are not counting all that money stored in bank accounts, plus the sudden appreciation of the value of the CHF. Bit of a bust, there. That said, I can't complain about how much I'm being paid, which, depending on whether you just take the number and replace the currency sign or whether you actually convert it at the current rate of exchange, translates to between 5 - 40% better than what I would get for the same job in Australia. And for my job, Australia is supposed to be paying above the curve.

Perceptions of corruption is a tough cookie. There isn't much as such here I guess.... but I'm completely naive on this one. Although, suffice to say, there's not too many Western countries where the citizens will openly admit (let alone in a survey) that they perceive their government to be riddled with corruption. And of course, in some other countries, admission as such can get you shot.

Freedom to make life decisions? Well we do have direct democracy here, which I guess is a plus. On the other hand, the bureaucracy here can wear you down a bit, even for Australians.

As alluded above, there are sometimes specific rules, often that aren't written as such, particular to a society that you need to know to "fit in". Otherwise, you'll definitely be in people's bad books - and that's definitely not a good thing in Switzerland. People can tell very quickly if you are not a native, either of the area or simply not a Swiss born, and they will have no hesitation to make that known to you or perpetuate relevant prejudices.

Ignorance is not an excuse here. This society is very good at making life very, very difficult for the stupid.

Obviously, there is an element of laissez faire or liberal tolerance which is more present in the larger, more cosmopolitan urban centres, and furthermore in the French side of the country rather than the German side, where the latter is known to be more conservative.

The irony in all of the above is that if you are a Swiss citizen or if you are lucky to integrate extremely quickly, you wouldn't think anything is particularly wrong. So maybe these people don't take these as weaknesses and thus they are 'happy'. Of course, this could also apply to almost any other country in the survey, too.

Now let's take down a few points in the related linked article about why the Swiss are so happy.

They're multilingual

Most Swiss will understand German (both Swiss German and Standard German), French and English, and possibly Italian. Many in Britain struggle just with English.

In theory, Swiss should be at least bilingual. It is compulsory in school to learn your local language (obviously), plus one other national language. English is taught as another language starting usually from either upper elementary or high school (as is my understanding). Of course, the incursion of Western English culture (e.g. popular music) partially accelerates the uptake of English.

More seriously, though, many Swiss after compulsory education will only retain fluency in the language which they (a) were brought up with, and (b) require the most day to day use of. In many cases, these are the same language. Even English will fall to the wayside; sometimes you'd be lucky to find someone who has basic conversational fluency in English. So much for multilingualism.

Even though many people will tell you that Swiss (Alemmanic) German and Standard German sound quite different and anyone who has learned German (Standard) says they struggle with Swiss German, you can't count that as two languages.

The working hours

They work 35.2 hours a week, on average, according to the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). That compares with 36.4 hours in Britain, 38 in Spain, 42.1 in Greece and 48.9 in Turkey.

I'm surprised by this. I work 41 hours a week, which is regarded as a standard full time working load (100%) here.

That said, I get 5 weeks (25 days) holidays here, plus gazetted public holidays.

The scenery

Alright, can't argue with that - it is beautiful and right at the doorstep. Of course, it all isn't necessarily cheap to get to, even for the Swiss themselves.

The healthcare

Switzerland is renowned for its healthcare system, Santésuisse, with appointment waiting times among the lowest in the world. It's no wonder the International Red Cross is based in Geneva.

I have no idea what Santesuisse is, but as far as I can see it is either another health insurance provider or body which I don't understand.

Health insurance is compulsory in Switzerland for all residents. It isn't cheap - like always, it's better just not to be sick at all.

 

[Mattg]

In theory, Swiss should be at least bilingual. It is compulsory in school to learn your local language (obviously), plus one other national language. English is taught as another language starting usually from either upper elementary or high school (as is my understanding). Of course, the incursion of Western English culture (e.g. popular music) partially accelerates the uptake of English.

More seriously, though, many Swiss after compulsory education will only retain fluency in the language which they (a) were brought up with, and (b) require the most day to day use of. In many cases, these are the same language. Even English will fall to the wayside; sometimes you'd be lucky to find someone who has basic conversational fluency in English. So much for multilingualism.

I found that just about everyone that I spoke to in Switzerland could speak fluent English and numerous other languages. Maybe I just spoke to the right people.

Even though many people will tell you that Swiss (Alemmanic) German and Standard German sound quite different and anyone who has learned German (Standard) says they struggle with Swiss German, you can't count that as two languages.

I speak fluent German and struggle greatly with Swiss German. I can understand it about as well as I understand Dutch - i.e. I can understand most of the street signs, half-understand what the people are saying (sometimes) and can't speak a word of it. So I would personally count it as a different language - YMMV.

 

[Foreigner]

I found that just about everyone that I spoke to in Switzerland could speak fluent English and numerous other languages. Maybe I just spoke to the right people.



I speak fluent German and struggle greatly with Swiss German. I can understand it about as well as I understand Dutch - i.e. I can understand most of the street signs, half-understand what the people are saying (sometimes) and can't speak a word of it. So I would personally count it as a different language - YMMV.

Apparently the written word is not unlike but orally, there are many differences between Deutsch in Germany / Austria ('high German') and Swiss German. Learnt few from this link:

http://www.eldrid.ch/swgerman.htm

 

[Cossie]

Well I have been to number 158 on the list-the world's unhappiest place,Togo,and what I enjoyed there was how happy the people were.

When did you vist Togo? I was there 26 years ago and didn't think of it then as a particularly unhappy place, along with it's neighbour Benin, however things could have changed a lot since then.

I've also been to 12 of the last 20 rated unhappiest places over a period of 40 years and I really don't have too many memories of people being unhappy at the time.

Things change, unfortunately sometimes for the worst, we visited Syria in 2008 and 2010 and at the time I was very suprised as to how happy it seemed the locals were and especially as to how friendly they were. A real shame as to what has happened there in the years since.

Places where I did think people were unhappy and also not particularly friendly were Turkey, Egypt and the former Yugoslavia and the old USSR! Actually the least friendliest place I've been to recently is Spain, Barcelona in particular and to my mind they were not very happy bunch.

Something I read yesterday made me chuckle, suposedly when Roger Federer was asked, "What's the best thing about Switzerland?",

he replied: "Well, the flag is a big plus"

 

[samh004]

Reading the comments it does seem after you get out of the top or bottom 10 there seem to be some odd conclusions on who is really happy

Saudi Arabia is a happier place than Spain. El Salvador higher than Japan. Bolivia and Italy both about 50.

Libya happier than Hong Kong?

Pakistan happier than Portugal?

 

[juddles]

The fact that the UN wastes money on such useless reports has REDUCED my level of happiness.

 

[drron]

Cossie we visited Togo and Benin in 2013.We were on a cruise.The most enjoyable day I had on that cruise was the day in Togo and it was because of the people.
described in this TR-
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....photos/with-the-explorer-in-africa-48266.html

 

[Cossie]

Cossie we visited Togo and Benin in 2013.We were on a cruise.The most enjoyable day I had on that cruise was the day in Togo and it was because of the people.
described in this TR-
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....photos/with-the-explorer-in-africa-48266.html

I had a quick look and I'll read the rest later, my cousin from Brisbane did a similar trip at about the same time, I'll have to ask her if she was on this cruise, sorry: off topic!

 

[jsoprano]

I speak fluent German and struggle greatly with Swiss German. I can understand it about as well as I understand Dutch - i.e. I can understand most of the street signs, half-understand what the people are saying (sometimes) and can't speak a word of it. So I would personally count it as a different language - YMMV.

It is definitely not a different language, think of it more as a very strong regional accent. the written language is 90% identical (with some words/expressions being the exception), but the spoken Swiss German is really hard to understand for Germans or Austrians. Being German and having a number of Swiss friends here in Australia, when they talk between themselves in Swiss German I can still after 5 years only understand fractions of the conversation. When they talk to us in 'high' German they say it is like a foreign language for them. But they of course understand 'high' German no issues at all.

 

[anat0l]

I found that just about everyone that I spoke to in Switzerland could speak fluent English and numerous other languages. Maybe I just spoke to the right people.

Depends on where you go. The main cosmopolitan centres - Zurich, Geneva and Lausanne - have higher concentrations of English speakers. Mind, especially in my city of Lausanne where there are two prominent universities, many of those people may be foreigners (Auslaender, I think that's how you pluralise it ) themselves, where some of them have been proficiently trained in French and some others are still just learning or getting by (like me). Places where you have concentrations of people working at multinational companies or the like are much the same.

Bern may be the capital of Switzerland, but it is in the German part of Switzerland and not an officially multilingual city (there are only two in Switzerland - Biel/Bienne and Fribourg/Freiburg). The advantage is that there are quite a few there who can speak French; English, however, is a different matter (unless they work at the university, Swiss Federal Railways, multinationals, etc.).

Younger people tend to know more English than older ones, but even that can be quite variable. Oddly enough, even though they are more conservative, a higher concentration of German Swiss can speak English compared to French Swiss (or Italian Swiss); incidentally, German Swiss are more likely to be bilingual in the national languages compared to the French Swiss (and Italian Swiss are largely bilingual otherwise they would struggle invariably in the rest of the country).

Those of about middle age who you typically find in bakeries, at quite a fair few checkouts at the supermarket or at the commune/gemeinde office for residents, hardly speak English. I do my banking at Postfinance - the banking arm of Swiss Post - and even though the website is in English, most of the interactions I have at branches is only in local languages, not English, simply because if I ask if the banking staff speak English, often the answer is, "No". Now that could be a number of reasons for a negative response, including:

• They can speak it (fluently or not), but choose not to, for whatever reason
• They can't speak it fluently
• They can't speak enough English to help you
• They won't speak English as if they get it wrong, they might be on the hook for it
• They are uncomfortable speaking English, particularly if the person they are helping speaks too fast or too colloquially

There is a Postfinance branch at our university in Lausanne; in spite of this, the staff there only know a little bit of English. I had a question about opening a current account in a foreign currency - whilst they could tell me how to open one in English, how to use it and a bit more had to be explained in French.

In almost any case, interacting in a local language will most likely give you a better predisposition with the person you are dealing with; ironically, they are more likely to smile or exchange more than the basic pleasantries in this case, even if they later have to (or choose to) switch to English. I think that is pretty applicable in many non-English countries.

Anyway, that's a long sidetrack on language and language regions in Switzerland, away from the topic of "happiness". I suppose it's funny that even though Switzerland is a country of merely 8+ million people, consisting of 26 semi-autonomous divisions (cantons), living in a land area which is barely 2/3 that of Tasmania, and yet can still exist in relative harmony with three official languages (plus one other national language)... they have to be doing something right. That's probably a good reason to be happy to live here (just make sure you learn the local language and follow customs).

However, as I said, the original study of happiness relies on some indicators which you have to question actually contribute to "happiness". I suppose it would be good to size up Australia on those indicators and see a bit further, seeing as they got #10 on the list.

I was discussing this topic with a friend the other day. She reckons the Swiss paid off the researchers to rig the list.

tl;dr - Switzerland has three official languages, can't believe that it can do so well in spite of that. Not as many people in Switzerland speak English than you may think (except for foreigners). But still unbelievable how they are the 'happiest' country.

 

[anat0l]

One recurring theme that seems apparent from a Swiss expat forum that I am a member of is people who move here have a high propensity to be really bored.

Most complain that they come here, they see that Zurich (the largest Swiss city) doesn't come close to any kind of bustling metropolis, the food is bad (apparently), the nightlife is dull, and there is only so much green rolling hills, snow slopes and cows that one can take. 3-12 months later, they complain that they are really, really bored.

The most common "victim" of this condition of falling into sheer and utter boredom are girlfriends or wives of Swiss men, who either met in Switzerland or met (and possibly married) outside Switzerland and moved back. Many of them are housewives with no job (unlike their partners), who are either not working or struggling to find work (either because no availability and/or lack of local language command). One even said she was considering antidepressant drugs.

So maybe not everyone is happy in Switzerland. Basically, if you come here, you're either here for a short holiday or you better have something useful to do. Then, you'll be just fine!

 

[Foreigner]

The German nationals find themselves discriminated against in Switzerland:

http://www.thelocal.ch/20150507/german-expats-feel-unwelcome-in-switzerland

 

[anat0l]

The German nationals find themselves discriminated against in Switzerland:

Germans in Switzerland 'suffer prejudice': report - The Local

Not too many surprises there.

It's not "right", but it does happen.

I'm not sure about Zurich, but the Swiss Germans can be staunchly conservative. Anyone who is clearly an Auslander will find themselves at the end of some sort of discrimination, whether it be light or heavy.

To be somewhat fair, Swiss Germans who move to Germany tend to find themselves being "discriminated" in a somewhat subtly similar fashion, especially if they go to areas north of the Main.

 

[globalstar20112]

United States

 

[JohnK]

I have been to Switzerland. I wouldn't want to live there.

Australia is the best place in the world. Just need to get rid of governments. Both sides of politics.