Carnie's Comments

 

This is United Nations International Day of Happiness.

With that, the annual report on happiness has been released. It's presented by Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an editorial board.

And, for a 7th year in a row, Finland is the world's happiest country.

The data comes from a survey of people in 140 of the world's 195 countries. Quality of life, including the weather, education, social supports, healthy life expectancy, freedom and generosity all come into play.

Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Israel, interestingly, are all in the top five.

Canada ranks 15th this year.

And, true story, the folks in Finland are hoping to capitalize. I got an email today from Sergei Shkurov, PR and Media Manager for Visit Finland, inviting me to visit his country.

However, he didn't mention anything about picking up the costs for flights or accommodations so, I think I'll just be happy to be in the world's 15th happiest country. I like it here.