Dutch much happier than Thai
The Dutch are among the happiest peoples on earth. We easily beat the Belgians and Thai don't even come close. In the 'Land of Smiles' people are much less happy than they seem.
The Dutch can complain a lot, nevertheless we are the happiest people in the world after three other countries. A strange contradiction. Especially if you would expect that the weak economic conditions, the dip in the housing market and the gloomy mood among consumers would dampen the fun somewhat.
You would almost wonder why some of us emigrate to Thailand. You will then miss your spot in a country with very happy inhabitants, because the Netherlands is no less than fourth in a list of 'happy countries' of the United Nations. Only Danes, Norwegians and Swiss are even happier, according to the World Happiness Report published on Monday.
Happy Netherlands
Among other things, the researchers looked at the years that people live in good health on average, whether people have someone they can count on and the freedom to make life choices. Generosity, freedom from corruption and gross domestic product per capita also count.
The research by the Earth Institute of Columbia University, commissioned by the United Nations, was conducted between 2010 and 2012. In last year's edition, the Netherlands also took fourth place.
Belgians 'less' happy
Strangely enough, our southern neighbors are considerably lower on the list. You only come across Belgium in place 21.
Thailand ranked 36
Always sun, beautiful beaches and swaying palms. Ingredients for good luck you would think. Still, Thailand scores moderately with a 36th place. The Dutch are richer, healthier, suffer less from corruption and still have a better social life. Aspects that weigh heavily when compiling the ranking.
The list does not reveal whether Dutch people living in Thailand are still happy. But maybe the readers can confirm that? If you are happy in Thailand, leave a comment and tell us why.
The full report with explanatory notes can be read here: World Happiness Report 2013
I quite believe that the Dutch are on average happier than Belgians.
The Dutch are generally much more positive and open than we Belgians.
I also think there is a lot of difference between Walloons and Flemish people in Belgium.
I myself am a Flemish person who lives on the language border and generally find the Walloons much more pleasant to be around than the Flemish, but we have a lot of whiners and complainers compared to our Walloon compatriots. That's why I like to travel across the language border. If you live on the language border, you should know because many of my Flemish friends have emigrated to that other part of Belgium for exactly that purpose. As for the Thais, yes, many are actually not that happy because life is tough for most of them, many are poor and have to fight very hard to make ends meet in that nice holiday country for the Farang with his euros.
But all in all, I am a happy, proud Belgian who likes to go to Thailand. But one that is not blind to the shortcomings of Thai society with its many limitations towards its own population.
Personally, I don't think you can say that Thailand scores moderately with place 36. View Thailand from the perspective of the ZOA region. Only Singapore scores higher (30). Next in the ranking is Malaysia (56). The other countries in the region are significantly lower.
If you take the region of Western Europe, you see that none of the surrounding countries of the Netherlands appear in the top 10. (That says something about the Netherlands, despite Rutte/Samson). Belgium ranks 21, Germany 26, France 25, and the UK 22.
Simply speaking loosely, unacademicly and in a playful way: you can say without a doubt that the Netherlands and nearby neighboring countries have a low score for the presence of corruption. Could this mean that if corruption were not such a manifest phenomenon in Thai society, Thailand would score significantly higher? Would that also mean that Thais are extremely unhappy with the occurrence of so much corruption, and that this unhappiness landed them in 36th place? And that, apart from all the corruption, the way of dealing with each other and standing in life makes them good and happy?
To answer the editor's question: I'm happy in Thailand. I live here in health, can afford a good health insurance fund, have an excellent hospital nearby, can fully rely on my Thai wife, my relationship with her is based on and established over many years together, have been taken in by her family, have ( with my wife) participate in a Thai social life, am free to make a number of choices, do not suffer from major corruption, accept a large number of Thai affairs, am satisfied with my income picture, can therefore make a good living feet, experience the fruits of thorough joint preparations).
With which I just want to indicate that being able to live happily in Thailand has everything to do with how you stand together in your relationship, with how you move together in Thai society, and with how you have prepared together for a common life in Thailand. Thailand.
I have absolutely nothing to do with this kind of research, what the hell is it good for you, we are in the top five with the Netherlands!!… yes, great and now what?
I also wonder if it is all right, when I am in the Netherlands I only hear complaints about unemployment, safety on the street, politics, and the predominant flow of labor migrants, etc. More and more compatriots emigrate every year because they fed up with being in the Netherlands.
The people who are still really happy in the Netherlands do not live in the big city where John with the cap has to put on his belt again, and where a welfare mother with a few children has to feed her children thanks to food donations. Bank.
No, it is the people with money who are the happiest in Holland, the people who live in Bloemendaal or Blaricum, for example, I think that is also where the research was done.
Why am I happy in Thailand is a good question, because after all, the country is in thirty-sixth place in the survey, and here there is greater poverty than in Holland, there is also crime and a lot of corruption here.
And yet I am happier here than in the Netherlands, happiness is a feeling that you create yourself and is caused by influences from the environment, so I think it is because the people here radiate more happiness, everyone laughs here and is friendly, and then the climate and the beautiful nature etc, yes I thank God on my bare knees that I can be here.
I have been amazed for a long time about this kind of research and its results.
I don't know where people get all this from, but I don't come across many happy Dutch people in everyday practice. Gloom everywhere and there is actually a reason for that….
The result - if obtained honestly - can only be explained if the interviewees have blinders on and are or have been under the influence in one way or another.
I don't see it any different and it isn't any different....
Despite all the research of scientists, happiness is a personal feeling and not a fact. It is by definition subjective.
Nevertheless, an interesting, statistical report. But the individual buys nothing for it.
It's all relative. In the Netherlands I thought I was suffocating. I'm from the south and nothing changed. Everything you had around you was indeed “perfect” and you already got excited about a crooked sidewalk tile or when I had “only” 16 mbps internet, instead of 20 mbps… Or when in my garden the power goes out when it rains fell out.
Here in Thailand I have everything much less. I live among the pineapple fields. The “street” in front of our house turns into a mud puddle when it rains and when it is dry again, I have to slalom with the scooter.
But here I can buy well in Tesco. I can eat good Thai, Japanese, European or whatever food for nice prices and I don't have to look far. Looking out my door, I see Sam Roy Yot in the distance, Kao Khuang on the other side. The sun gently shines into the living room when I wake up in the morning and I can sit in the shade on my veranda when the sun sets behind.
It is warm every day and I can sit outside every day. I can go swimming whenever I feel like it. If I want to go to a city where you can get everything, I can be in Bangkok within a few hours for next to nothing.
I can speak English, German, Dutch here and I hear so many different languages around me. I enjoy that.
I think you make choices in your life and then you can feel happy with them. And what I also think is very important, probably the most important reason of all to be here: my dear Thai girlfriend. Without her it would be much less…
Another meaningless study. It is laughable to see that a country like Mexico is higher in the pecking order than Luxembourg and Belgium. This while Mexico is dying of crime. Every day, severely deformed bodies are found along the road. When you read such a report, one can apparently expect that the average Mexican is very satisfied with his risky life. I wonder how they measured life expectancy in health there. In 2012, only 26.000 homicides took place; there are just under 72 per day, or 3 per hour. Anyway, Mexicans apparently remain "very happy"?!
What about Germany in 26th place?! Germany has the highest average age in Europe and the average life expectancy is also one of the highest in Europe. But apparently everyone there suffers seriously mentally, hence the 26th place.
Kenya and Sierra Leone are among the most corrupt countries in the world, but still occupy a good place on this index. Apparently people live there in great health, they have a lot of people they can count on, they are free to make life choices and everyone is very generous. How gullible can one be?
The 4th place in the Netherlands is of course also in stark contrast to reality. BKR figures show that 700.000 (!!) people have payment problems. More than 80.000 people cannot afford their mortgage. About 70.000 families rely on food packages from the food bank. More than 744.000 unemployed is of course nothing to worry about. These numbers are rising every week and given the extremely uncertain economic situation in the Netherlands, this trend is not likely to reverse anytime soon.
Many reports are written for a specific purpose, and that purpose is often to influence opinion or mood. For example, we are now stuck with the phenomenon of “aging” and “life expectancy”; concepts that politicians like to use to implement all kinds of unpopular measures. Actual numbers often contradict this. For example, life expectancy in 1860 was at a frightening level of 37 years! Yet most people did not die until the age of 73. Current life expectancy is around 78 years, but most people die around the age of 85. All this has to do with the decrease in child mortality. So the increase is not as alarming as we would like us to believe. In 1860 there were probably just as many people living to the age of 90 or older as today. But yes, of course you should not write that if you want to raise the retirement age.
In short, we like to be fooled and this report is another good example of that!
Bachus, do you know how big Mexico is? Do you know that the drug killings are mainly on the border area with the US? You actually claim that Thailand is terrorized by Muslims, while that problem only occurs in the extreme South.
Do you know that Mexico is almost as big as Western Europe in terms of land area? I lived and worked in Mexico for years and I can tell you that those people nag and nag a lot less than you do now. Mexicans are hedonists. They love music, a party and the drug misery is of course there, but it really doesn't cover the whole country.
I do not mean to say that such polls are blissful. But to present a country like Mexico as a life-threatening narco-state, because you do that for the sake of convenience, is a bit easy.
Dear Cor, I don't know where I'm whining and whining; I'm just suggesting that this is another one of those investigations that can go either way, or rather, no way at all! Furthermore, I do not paint Mexico as a narco-state, I just compare some data that in my opinion contradict each other or at least seriously influence each other. For example, I think Israel also scores so well in this list, while this country has been in the top 10 every year for years in another list, namely the most dangerous countries in the world. Apparently the latter has little influence on the "mental health" of the average Israeli, if I can believe this research. I highly doubt that myself.
Anyway, if I understand your argument correctly, the northern part of Mexico has been left out of this study and that is the reason why Mexico scores so high. Personally, I would think that when there is a high crime rate in a country, and you can speak of that in Mexico with 26.000 murders per year, this would seriously affect the average "feeling of happiness". However, a murder more or less should not spoil the average fun in Mexico, I understand you. Statistically speaking, it can of course be correct, because the number of very "unhappy people" has of course fallen seriously at 3 murders per hour and in the end only the "happy few" remain. You're right, this explains everything!
Very well and beautifully worded and I think this is the only correct answer why all these studies are being done.
I was already wondering there must be someone behind it, I mean who commissions proper research, and what is the reason for that.
Bacchus, you really should read the report via the link above yourself. It really is a fun and interesting set. Then you also see that the differences between, for example, the Netherlands and Belgium are not too bad (7.5 against 7, if I have remembered correctly), despite being much lower in the ranking. The report also says a lot about the how and why. In addition to countries, happiness in terms of occupation, income, age, etc. was also examined. Perhaps it is comforting to know that happiness is fairly high at age 15-16, then gradually declines until age 70 and then rises again to great heights until age 85. The highest point, higher than a 16-year-old! You still have your best years ahead of you!
Dear Tino, I have skimmed through the report and, as you have already understood, I have serious doubts about some things. Nowadays people like to be guided by all kinds of research. As a result, result-oriented research is often carried out; in other words: the research is designed and carried out in such a way that a desired “truth” is obtained. Example: about 2 years ago, the Dutch government commissioned a study into labor participation in the Netherlands. The outcome was that the Netherlands scored poorly compared to neighboring countries. The European Union commissioned a similar study almost simultaneously, in which the Netherlands scored high. The result of both studies was published simultaneously by some newspapers. Beautiful right? My opinion is that research is being done by so many agencies these days, so that no one knows the truth anymore. If it piques my interest, I also try to compare studies with results from other studies. You often come across the most contrasting conclusions. This is also the case with this study, hence my response(s).
“Dutch people much happier than a Thai”
Please provide a response: When studying the report, it appears that: Dutch people have been ASKED to give their opinion. Not what the FACTS are.
But that place is beautiful.
Yes, we are strong in that in the Netherlands. Keeping up appearances.
A few facts at a glance:
-Research last year in the top of health care shows that the thinking box no longer has anything to do with real life in NL.
-Research in the banking world shows that 85% ! of the Dutch are dissatisfied.
-Unemployment is skyrocketing.
-Economy turned into a quagmire.
-almost 40% of civil servants spend the day behind or rather in front of the screen. Necessary to prevent the not working and obstructing monstrosity in armor that we call regulations for almost every Dutch person, which we created ourselves.
-more than 400 Dutch people leave the country DAILY. Of which I was one. That is more per year than an entire city like 's-Hertogenbosch.
But yes, you say something during such an investigation.
Own experience: Living here has nothing to do with NL. This is basic life. Yes to everything that can go wrong. But the heart of the matter is LIFE is central. Not regulation. I think that NL civil servants did not pay attention during training: It was advised (also such a Dutch concept) to “Be in the service of the people”. That's what they made of it: We civil servants "call the shots"
A very happy KhunBram with his family.
I've tried to read the report, but it's too long and it's not clear to me what to do with an average well-being yesterday and average happyness and some of those slogans.
Let alone that I know how to turn that into a ranking.
The impression I do get is that it is less about how happy people feel than about how happy people SHOULD feel based on average age of death and income.
(The question of how happy do you feel on a scale of 1 to 10 was probably too complicated [or cheap].)
Asking questions about happiness seems to be only one part of the overall research.
By the way, the report is a bit older [data from 2010 to 2012] , so I assume that we have dropped somewhat on the happiness index in the meantime.
Dutch people happy? What do they mean by the term happy?
The nuclei they used for the research mentioned in the article do not necessarily mean whether someone is happy.
And look at the street in the Netherlands. Just long, sour faces. What also doesn't help is that it is currently pouring all day!
How different is it in Thailand or Indonesia?
How can you be happier than a Belgian if you bite a Eurocent into 2 pieces and are always whining about money?
The Dutch economy is not growing, on the contrary because people are sitting on their money. Typical. Is that called being happy? But hey, money doesn't buy happiness for sure.
What a bunch of chauvinistic bullshit.