Pandemic, inflation, crime: no problem
Jamaicans second calmest in world, but less happy, report says
Published:Wednesday | April 20, 2022 | 12:05 AM
Jamaicans are seriously a lot less happy, but somehow islanders found ways of keeping calm, according to the Global Happiness Report released in March month.
Jamaica ranked as the 63rd happiest among 146 nations, with Finland in the top spot and Afghanistan placed last. A year ago, Jamaica ranked 37 among 149 nations in the 2021 report, with Afghanistan again bottoming the world. The report ranks a series of socioeconomic, psychological, and health factors that contribute to happiness across the globe.
The report mentioned the pandemic as a major issue affecting the world’s happiness. That is because it raised new health and economic concerns. But it also raised new levels of stress and anxiety, the report indicated.
“For the future, the prospects for happiness will depend on a whole range of factors, including the future course of the pandemic and the scale of military conflict. But an important contribution will come from improvements in the science of happiness,” it said.
The report is in its tenth year, having started in 2012. Jamaica’s inclusion in the rankings began in 2013, then placing 75th, with Denmark leading the world and Tongo the least happy.
The World Happiness Report was written by a group of independent experts acting in their personal capacities, with Jeffery Sachs as the most prominent. It is a publication of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and is powered by Gallup World Poll data.
For 2022, Jamaica, despite becoming more sad, ranked among the highest in the world in terms of ‘calmness’. The high subranking came despite the local pandemic deaths, the proliferation of noisy lawnmower bikes across the island, and a spike in murders towards the highest in the region. The report did not mention whether the island’s ‘irie’ no-problem culture contributed to that finding.
The study asked respondents whether people experienced calmness “during a lot of the day yesterday”, with developing countries scoring better than developed nations.
“The top ten is far less eurocentric,” the report noted.
They calmest nations encompassed Vietnam – 94.7 points; Jamaica – 93.8 points; Philippines – 92.7 points; Kyrgyzstan – 91.8 points; Finland – 89.7 points, Romania - 88.8 points; Estonia – 88.8 points; Portugal – 88.2 points; Ghana – 88 points, and Croatia – 87.1 points.
The least calm were Pakistan at 61.1 points, Iran at 60.4 points, and Benin at 59.3 points.