Felicidades

Don’t worry, be happy on a scale of 1 to 10

When someone asks me if I am “happy”, my usual response is: define happiness. Happiness is a concept that many people struggle to put into words, yet they are comfortable applying it as a label rather liberally. When I respond with “define happiness”, I’m not trying to be obtuse - I genuinely don’t really know what people are asking me when they ask that question. Probably because I’ve never really put a lot of effort into thinking about happiness, or the state of being happy. I know when I am content, and that’s really the best I can strive for. Needless to say, I somewhat distrust claims of happiness, as the definition is - for my, anyway - so nebulous.

I do know what hypocrisy means, though, thus it is with a happy and hypocritical heart that I bore you today with nonstop talk of happiness. Oh joy.

Recently, the World Happiness Report released its 2024 report (powered by data collected by the Gallup World Poll). Much has been made of this report in North America because in 2024, Mexico rose precipitously while the U.S. continued a slow decline and Canada wandered around like a bored teenager. But let’s take a break from words - here’s a chart:

The above chart shows the relative ranking of Mexico, U.S. and Canada over the last 3 years, with lower values being better (10 is better than 20, etc). And Mexico’s line is quite steep - Mexico must be getting very happy indeed. Or is it?

The World Happiness Report collects tons of data, and provides graphical representations for much of it. You can see the report for yourself here. For the global ranking of happiness though, the report relies on the response to this one question:

Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?

In other words, data be damned - happiness is all subjective. If happiness scores were to rely on what we might consider fundamental analytical components like GDP, perception of corruption, or healthy life expectancy - Canada and the U.S. would top Mexico. But that’s not what the Gallup poll is asking: they just want to know: are you happy?

These kinds of “happiness” barometers are highly problematic. Firstly, there is a lot of cultural bias in these surveys: the culture that produced the “happiness question” in the first place; the culture of the individuals answering the questions. The very translation of the question itself. Is the question just designed to elicit a positive response from Scandinavian peoples? Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden take the top four places. How can people in such cold places be so happy - is it because they always have an excuse to drink hot cocoa?

Anyway, regardless of the relative positions of all these happiness competing nations, the fact that Mexico’s responses to the question are rising in positivity, and the United States’ responses are falling, is a more interesting view of the whole analytical whirlpool Gallup has thrown us all in, kicking and screaming as we are. More interesting still is where, when and by how much they are rising or falling. Here are some more pretty charts to look at, the first one is Mexico’s “happiness index” since 2010:

So these internal metrics paint a much different picture: Mexico’s really impressive rise wasn’t 2024, it was 2022. 2024 is, in fact, a 3-year low for Mexico. And 2013, while not putting Mexico anywhere near the “top 10 happy nations”, was their best year for feelings of happiness on ladders. And yet, 2024 is the year that Mexico ranked it its highest position on the leaderboard of nations, at an enviable number 10.

Here is the United State’s “happiness index” since 2010:

The U.S. has been bouncing fairly evenly between 6.5 and 7.25. But the low point was 2023, not 2024 - the year that the U.S. fell to its lowest point (24th) in relative happiness.

So what are we to make of all this? Is happiness a competition sport, where we must compare nation-to-nation, border-to-border? I hope not. If I were to give at least some props to the World Happiness Report, it would be this: people in Mexico seem happier and better adjusted than people in the U.S. (you’ll notice I’ve dropped Canada from the conversation almost completely - the data there doesn’t really add much to this narrative). Given, though, that happier-than-the-U.S. isn’t a high bar. Oh well, better to go out and eat a taco. Pet a dog. Be nice to someone. And if a pollster asks you about happiness and escaleras, tell them you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. Maybe play a harmonica while you do that.