I had an interesting conversation with someone on LinkedIn a little while ago about the ranking methods of the World Happiness Report.
As you probably know, the rankings are based on the Gallup World Poll. But what many still don’t understand is that the rankings are not based on the entire survey. It’s based on the answers to one single question on the poll.
The main life evaluation question of the Gallup World Poll asks respondents to think of a ladder, called the Cantril Ladder, in which the best possible life for them is a 10 and the worst possible life a 0. The respondents are then asked to rate their own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale.
The rankings are the average of national samples (answers) over a three year period. There are about 1000 yearly respondents from each country.
The results are then tried to explain by six main variables: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption. But the rankings are in no way related to or defined by these variables.
Or in the questions of positive and negative emotions felt the previous day, which they also ask in the poll and use as indicators.
With this in mind, the question of what actually makes Finns the happiest in the world changes its nature, now doesn’t it?
And who better to answer this kind of question than Finns themselves?
The founder of the Finnish Happiness Institute and the top sustainable happiness and stress management coach in Finland, Miia Huitti, (whom I’m also honored to call my friend) has surveyed over 800 Finns, asking them what makes them happy.
Want to hear the summary of the answers? And learn some of the real secrets behind Finnish Happiness?
Go listen the newest episode of The Insights Within Podcast – I got to interview her last week and she shares what consistency, small routines, spending time in nature, trust and honesty have to do with the happiest nation in the world.
Enjoy!
Much love,
Paula
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