Germany ranks only 47th in the World Happiness Index, although everything in the country is much better than the residents themselves think.
Sociologists attempted to combine these very dissimilar indicators: a grandiose study of the level of global life satisfaction, the so-called 'World Map of Happiness', was compiled based on a wide variety of population surveys conducted in both industrialized and the poorest countries of the world from 1946 to 2007.
On this map, Germany looks almost worse than all its neighbors in Western Europe. Only the Portuguese, with their characteristic 'tristeza' – a special feeling of melancholy attributed to the population of the Iberian state – marked the continent's map with the same gloomy color as the inhabitants of Germany.
The quality of food and medical care, life expectancy and purchasing power of the local currency, data on the ratio of employed to unemployed in society, gross national product, the gap between rich and poor incomes, the number of illiterate and the average qualification of workers – if happiness were determined by the ratio of such indicators, the population of the Federal Republic would have to be extremely satisfied with life in this country. But happiness is not in money – the population of Germany confidently applies this wisdom to itself. Learning to love Germany is a great art, which many of its inhabitants, alas, have not learned.
From a statistical point of view, the joy of life of the peoples of most countries of the world is steadily growing, while in Germany it has been steadily declining since almost the end of World War II. In the midst of a satiated continent, growing the muscles of happiness in prosperity, Germany was populated by skeptics, who economically fared better than any neighbors.
But Germans constantly lack the happiness experienced by Scandinavians and Swiss, Irish and Luxembourgers, Italians, French and even Poles who survived socialism. And the fact that in terms of life satisfaction, residents of starving Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan shaken by revolutions, or Rwanda which lost a tenth of its population in genocide have periodically managed to overtake us, makes one think either about the complex psychological state of fellow citizens, or about another confirmation of the inadequacy of statistics.
According to the latter, Germany ranks 47th in the World Happiness Index: we are ahead of Algeria and Guatemala, but have let Mali and Egypt pass ahead. In Europe, only some countries in its east feel as we do or worse, where wars and crises aggravated the usual troubles of twenty post-socialist years. The highest happiness index was calculated for Iceland (however, all data was collected before the economic crisis), New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Ireland. Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands rounded out the top ten happiest states.
For Germany, one of the most successful, safe, economically developed powers in the world, its 47th place seems completely inappropriate. 71 percent of the country's population aged 15 to 64 works, we work 1,390 hours a year – almost the lowest among the countries that make up the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (average is 1,739 hours per year), 66% of mothers find work when children go to school, 85% of adults aged 25 to 64 have completed secondary education, average life expectancy is 80 years, and finally, 94 percent of Germany's population believe that they have someone to turn to for support if necessary.
We have everything in order – but why don't we admit it to others or at least to ourselves? Sociologists believe that the real problem lies not at all in the fact that Germans feel bad. Calm restraint is perhaps the main feature of the national character: when asked 'How are you?', most residents of Germany will answer 'it'll do', 'nothing', 'so-so', but almost never say 'great'. From a material point of view, everything is fine with us, but well-being does not bring satisfaction from life: such pessimists as the residents of Germany are hard to find in all of Europe.
No one answers questions about happiness expectations with greater sadness than we do: fear and uncertainty eat away at the German soul. However, the income level per average household clearly places Germany in high positions in any rankings. The population makes good use of this: no one, as the OECD found, spends more time in stores than Germans. Alas, even endless shopping, as it turns out, does not relieve heavy thoughts and grumbling.
Maxim Smirnov.
