Happiness in Spain

THE 2016 World Happiness Report was released at the beginning of this week, with Denmark taking the top spot. However Spain didn’t fare too well, and was considerably further down the list at 37th place. The report takes 156 countries into consideration and then ranks them depending on their overall happiness. 

Nestled between Qatar and Algeria on the list; Spain’s position is surprisingly only three places behind Saudi Arabia. 

The World Happiness Report takes six factors into consideration: GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, perceptions of corruption and finally social support. 

Despite Spain’s glorious weather and relatively laid-back lifestyle, it would appear that people have been affected by the downturn in economic circumstances. Another contributing factor is a high level of unemployment. Nevertheless, the social support section of the study had a very favorable result. This particular part of the study looked at the availability of help from peers in times of need. This good result is indeed to be expected, given the friendly nature and neighbourly attitude found all over Spain.

Interestingly, other Mediterranean countries also appeared further down the list. Italy, Portugal and Greece came in at 50th, 94th, and 99th respectively. However the United Kingdom came out more favorably in the study at a position of 23rd. Burundi, a landlocked country in East Africa was at the bottom of the list, with Syria a close second last.