As what can only be described as surreal events continue to escalate and play out in the Middle East I hesitated to post a 'fluff' diary. Then I began to realize how much this study might just play into current events for the simple reality - Do happy people blow the shit out of each others; fathers, mothers, daughters, sons - their fellow human beings?
Which brings me back to the initial question - Are you happy?
According to a recent study - not so much. In fact you could accurately state that the United States as a whole is downright depressed.
Out of the 178 countries surveyed the United States placed a literally miserable 150th. Which puts us firmly between such auspicous company as Lithuania at #149 and Cote d'Ivoire at #151. In fact 'miserable' or 'depressed' may not accurately state the overall mental health of the U.S. Got Lithium?
Israel did slightly better then the U.S. but still placed a Xanax inducing 115th, with Lebanon doing slightly better still at 105th. Other major players in the Middle East did better, some surprisingly better - Jordan came in at 91st, Saudi Arabia at 87th, Syria at 84th and Iran, the surprising part to me, at a veritably giddy 61st. You can find the entire listing for the 178 surveyed countries here.
The New Economics Foundation with their Happy Planet Index survey is not what I would ever call a 'scientific study', this survey attempts to include data that remains purely subjective (so please direct all criticisms to the source of this report you Kosmaniac number crunchers out there, no need to hijack this diary).
What this survey does measure is peoples perceptions of their own current situation, and in the end isn't that the only thing that really matters?
If you've got a couple of minutes and are so inclined you can measure your own happiness index here. Maybe you will be the one that brings the U.S. up to 149th place, or down to 151st.