On Happiness

If you look at the World Database of Happiness, created by Dr Ruut Veenhoven, you will be surprised to find out that at the top of the ranking by nations, along with three very serious countries (Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland) there is Colombia. In fact, to the question "How much people enjoy their life-as-a-whole on scale 0 to 10" one finds:

Iceland 8,5
Denmark 8,4
Colombia 8,1
Switzerland 8,1

[In case you're curious: the study says that people in the USA is happier than people in France and Italy (7.0 vs 6.5 and 6.8, resp.), and that people in Tanzania, Togo and Belarus (3.2, 4.1, and 4.2, resp) are not that happy.]

The existence of this kind of 'happiness rankings' as well as the good position Colombia has on most of  them is not new for the average Colombian. In the popular culture, there's this weird idea that "there is no better place in the world to live than Colombia" closely related to other absurd nationalist myths (which include Colombia has the "best coffee in the world", "the second most beautiful national anthem in the world" and that we speak "the best Spanish in latinamerica"). Regardless of the absurdity underlying the myths, I was always curious on why we Colombians consider ourselves very happy. It seemed very interesting to me that more than 50 years of war, growing levels of poverty and generalized violence, and the weakening of the political and democratic structures, have had no influence on "subjective appreciation of life", which is the fancy term Dr Veenhoven uses for happiness.

As an answer to that, I have just read about one of the most interesting scientific study in weeks. It provides initial hypothesis on why Colombians consider themselves happy (click here for a link to a summary of the study, in Spanish). Here I will quickly comment on the five explanations of such a relevant study.

First Explanation: The Latin Character. This has to do with the fact that because of the Latin personality, in the case of an interview or poll, a Colombian will hardly say something different from what the interviewer wants to hear, or won't reveal something (s)he considers secret. This way, in the event of a poll on 'happiness', it is unlikely for a Colombian to admit that (s)he's 'less than happy' even if that is the case. 

Second Explanation: Tight Social Networking. As in other countries, the idea of family is extremely important in the Colombian society, and constitutes the most basic 'social network' for anyone. Then you have your neighbors, your in-laws, your coworkers, people in your church, etc. It seems that the strong relationships people create with people in their 'adjacent networks' help people to feel better about their lives, they feel somehow protected. This ends up improving the overall perception of happiness.

Experts indicate that relying on the 'surrounding collective' as a strategy to deal with life is easier to observe in people with low incomes, as social networks change or disappear as people 'go up' in the social scale. If you consider that more than 50% of the Colombian population is 'poor' (according to international standards) then it's not surprising that social networks have such an influence on overall happiness.

Third Explanation: Lack of Ambition. This one is very simple: it has been determined that Colombian people have goals or objectives for life that are not very ambitious. So, when people reach their not-so-ambitious goals, they perceive a degree of satisfaction that is different from the one reached by those who have more ambitious objectives in life. This has a lot to do with the fact that Colombians survive to very difficult life conditions: for an average family it is then very hard to think beyond any medium-term goals. Example: nowadays people can only find fixed-term jobs, so long-term objectives (say, buying a house or sending kids to the university) are not even considered. Since expectations are not that high, the resulting frustration is less and you feel more satisfied with life.

The last two explanations are only initial hypothesis, which according to the experts, pose research problems in themselves:

Fourth Explanation: We Are Conformist. The study suggests that for people 'happiness' is not related to the material things they can buy and/or their incomes. People simply manage to be happy with the available means. This is a delicate conjecture and needs further research, as a stupid government could take this as an excuse to let things unchanged.

Fifth Explanation: Achievements in a Negative Environment. This has to do with the third explanation above. The study says that in a difficult (poor, violent) environment, small achievements are given a higher value. Examples of 'small achievements' include: learning to read and to write, to finish high school, to buy a new TV (this is very relative). Underlying this 'twisted valuation', there seems to be a positive attitude that prevents people from going down in moments of crisis; indeed, it seems it occurs the opposite: when things get worse people manage to find strength and keep struggling with life.

As a side comment, the study suggests that when it comes to happiness, 'spirituality' has a more noticeable effect from the point of view of social networking than from the point of 'religion.' In other words, what makes people in Colombia happy is not whether they're Catholic, Buddhist or Jehovah's witnesses but the fact that each religion comes with a community of people that can support each other in their daily difficulties.

This is an ongoing study and more concrete conclusions are supposed to appear in the future. I really look forward to read those. Also, I wonder how the above preliminary explanations apply to other southamerican countries and if some of them could be related to the perception of happiness of countries such as Spain and Italy, the so-called 'latin-like countries' in Europe.