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Happiness: Developed Countries vs. Developing Countries

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  • Happiness: Developed Countries vs. Developing Countries

    Khoshbakhti, khosh-hali, afsorde NABUDAN, adam deevune geej vahshi va bored nashodan- koja? che shekli? een maghale ke bar akse aghayede aksareeyat meege "developed country"e emruze javabesh neest... Nazaratun darbareye een mozuha.

    In English-- what's happiness and prosperity? How can we achieve it and not become dark, depressed, confused or bored or angry or crazy?

    This article suggests counter-intuitively that the system of "developed countries" does not work towards happiness in comparison to other cultures and systems but instead works in the opposite direction.

    Is it too much individualism? Selfishness? Competetiveness? Notions of superiority? Or something completely different?


    Young people in developed countries unhappy

    By Kate Holton Mon Nov 20, 8:27 AM ET

    LONDON (Reuters) - Young people in developing nations are at least twice as likely to feel happy about their lives than their richer counterparts, a survey says.


    Indians are the happiest overall and Japanese the most miserable.

    According to an MTV Networks International (MTVNI) global survey that covered more than 5,400 young people in 14 countries, only 43 percent of the world's 16- to 34-year-olds say they are happy with their lives.

    MTVNI said this figure was dragged down by young people in the developed world, including those in Britain and the United States where fewer than 30 percent of young people said they were happy with the way things were.

    Only eight percent in Japan said they were happy.

    Reasons for unhappiness across the developed world included a lack of optimism, concern over jobs and pressure to succeed.

    In developing countries a majority in the same age group expected their lives to be more enjoyable in the future, led by China with 84 percent.

    "The happier young people of the developing world are also the most religious," the survey said.

    The MTVNI survey took six months to complete and resulted in the Wellbeing Index which compared the feelings of young people, based on their perceptions of how they feel about safety, where they fit into society and how they see their future.

    Young people from Argentina and South Africa came joint top in the list of how happy they were at 75 percent.

    The overall Wellbeing Index was more mixed between rich and poor. India came top followed by Sweden and Brazil came last.

    "In developing countries, economic growth is on the go ... so you could see that logically there should be optimism and a positive feeling," Bill Roedy, the President of MTVNI, told Reuters.

    Developed countries were particularly pessimistic about globalisation, with 95 percent of young Germans thinking it is ruining their culture, while developing countries which tended to be more receptive to globalisation were also more optimistic about their economic future and more proud of their nationality.

    MTVNI said one of the trends they spotted was that young people with access to mass media tended to feel less safe as they did not have the cognitive skills to interpret real risk.

    In the UK, more than 80 percent of 16- to 34-year-olds said they were as afraid of terrorism as they were of the getting cancer -- though the latter was far more likely to hurt them.

    The 14 countries included in the survey were Argentina, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Sweden, the UK and the U.S.
    Last edited by zubin; 11-22-2006, 02:37 PM.
    Take him and cut him out in little stars,
    and he will make the face of heaven so fine,
    that all the world will be in love with night,
    and pay no worship to the garish sun

    - Shakespeare

    "In all intellectual debates, both sides tend to be correct in what they affirm, and wrong in what they deny." - JS Mill

  • #2
    This is a very intersting topic that you have chosen to explore. The first thing to note is the definition of happiness. It varies from person to person, it varies based on age, it varies based on gender, and it varies based on culture. Then you have to look at the fact that people who have more appreciate what they have less.

    If I were to define what i see as happiness, it would involve being healthy and making those around me happy by helping them be healthy. One of the reasons I love medicine is the fact that you can touch so many lives with medicine. I cant wait to be done with medschool and get involved with programs like doctors without borders or anything that would allow me to travel to third world countries to help those who have no access or very limited acess to healthcare.

    Comment


    • #3
      where do you get this stuff?
      Take him and cut him out in little stars,
      and he will make the face of heaven so fine,
      that all the world will be in love with night,
      and pay no worship to the garish sun

      - Shakespeare

      "In all intellectual debates, both sides tend to be correct in what they affirm, and wrong in what they deny." - JS Mill

      Comment


      • #4
        my head. why, is there something amiss with what i said?

        Comment


        • #5
          No, I like your answers. I have to say is that you have quite some head!
          Take him and cut him out in little stars,
          and he will make the face of heaven so fine,
          that all the world will be in love with night,
          and pay no worship to the garish sun

          - Shakespeare

          "In all intellectual debates, both sides tend to be correct in what they affirm, and wrong in what they deny." - JS Mill

          Comment


          • #6
            Why thank you for the words of praise, i forgot to talk about the part about what i perceive as happiness coming from my heart. i think its only fair to give credit to both my head and my heart.

            Happiness is hard to define in words for most people. Some might say an expensive car or a multi-million dollar home or a handsome or beautiful and successful spouse is happiness. I for one think the little things in life are what make me happy: for example finding a parking spot at a time when i know it will be a pain to find parking at school, or seeing a little baby smile when you smile at the baby in a supermarket aisle, or seeing someone i know and having a long chat while catching up. For me happiness is not really material since material things are fleeting. The expensive car depreciates and is only modeh sal for one year, the multi-million dollar house is only nice till you dont see another house that is more hightech and prettier, and the handsome spouse gets old and even his handsomeness fades if he doesnt have a handsome heart. They say money cant buy happiness, there are plenty of people who have all the money in the world and are still very unhappy. There are those who have little of life's luxeries and comforts but yet they enjoy life with a zest that should be contagious for all of us.

            Comment


            • #7
              but I mean, these facts fly right in the fact of terms like "first world" and "developed vs. third world". A first world of misery is no world at all and progress towards misery is devolution if anything.

              And it refutes the simplstic notion that modern culture is more civilized and better than "less developed" cultures.
              Take him and cut him out in little stars,
              and he will make the face of heaven so fine,
              that all the world will be in love with night,
              and pay no worship to the garish sun

              - Shakespeare

              "In all intellectual debates, both sides tend to be correct in what they affirm, and wrong in what they deny." - JS Mill

              Comment

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