Despite all those European films depicting inhabitants of northern Europe as brooding depressives, the world's happiest nations are Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Luxembourg. Happiness studies may not meet the rigorous standards of the hard sciences. Still, social scientists in this growing field have developed sophisticated surveys for interviewing people to learn about their mental states, says Hagerty, the UC Davis psychologist. Va. According to his analysis, the United States is the fifth-happiest nation, a fact that baffles Hagerty. For the most part, the top-rated countries are small and homogeneous.
Families stay stable.
That finding might startle those who still cling to old stereotypes about those states as home to moonshine operators and Ku Klux Klansmen. By contrast, the data for the Pacific states clash with popular stereotypes. But the more he thought about it, the finding didn't seem quite so unusual. I think Californians consider individual freedom and individual happiness quite important. When I moved here in 1979, I had to form new friends and family.