The Happiness Factor

Sweden has high gender equality rates. We saw many dad's out with their children, signifying to us that childcare is divided equally between parents. This is an unfortunate commentary on American family practices, were the mother is usually viewed as the primary caregiver.

Nordic countries consistently rank highest in global happiness surveys, with Finland coming in first this year and Sweden in 7th place.

Since 2012 the Sustainable Development Solutions Network has released a new annual survey and report every March 20th (International Day of Happiness) to the UN, rating happiness around the world. In a time of continually rising tensions and emotions, this report is provided in hopes of offering "the worlds governments and individuals the opportunity to rethink public polices as well as individual life choices, to raise happiness and well being" (Sachs, 2019).

The organization surveys 156 countries on factors that are empirically known to increase well-being and happiness. They look at well-being statistics that include healthy life expectancy from birth, GDP per capita (income), the social support network and policies that people can count, generosity, freedom to make life choices, corruption perception (trust), and inequality/distribution. https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2019/#read

They generally like to apply a central theme to their reporting, with the theme last year being a focus on how migration affects global change. This year (2019) the study concentrated on "happiness and community," "how happiness has evolved over the past dozen years, with a focus on technologies, social norms, conflicts and government policies that have driven those changes." The researchers paid special attention to "generosity and pro-social behavior, the effects of happiness on voting behavior, big data, and the happiness effects of internet use and addictions" (Lee, K. 2019).

Stockholm University

Although Sweden is a capitalistic country, a large portion of spending goes towards social services. People whom I spoke with while there assured me that they do not mind the high tax rates they pay, as they view the services received in return as a worthwhile investment. There is a new concern (shared with us by Professor Tapio Salonen of Malmo University) that since 1995 at the peak of Swedens's "universalism" inequality has begun to rise due to a lowering of social expenditures on social welfare.

One way that Sweden increases happiness and well being in its society is by offering affordable or free higher education. Research has shown that people with higher education levels also enjoy increased financial opportunities and social connections (Nikolaev, 2016). While tuition in Sweden can be costly for international students, for Swedish and EU/Switzerland students university is tuition free. Many students also have access to student grants to help with the cost of living.

Lee, K. (2019, March 20). World Happiness Report 2019. Retrieved from https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2019/#read

Nikolaev, B. (2016). Does Higher Education Increase Hedonic and Eudaimonic Happiness? Journal of Happiness Studies. doi:10.1007/s10902-016-9833-y

Sachs, J. D. (2019, March 20). Addiction and Unhappiness in America. Retrieved from https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2019/addiction-and-unhappiness-in-america/

Salonen, T. (2019, May 17). Flight From Universalism? Changes in the Swedish Welfare State since 1990's. Lecture presented at Malmo University Lecture in Sweden, Malmo.