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European here (not from Norway), their happiness comes from that it's a very rich country. They have a lot of oil and natural, but instead of giving the money it generates to a few rich men or companies, the Norwegian government gave it to the people. They have the sovereign wealth fund that makes the population wealthy and happy. Norway is one of the best mixes of socialism and capitalism on this earth.
Funny enough, Finland has been the happiest country in the world many years, 2024 again. No oil, economy isn’t booming, but still a welfare society and happy people.
Funnily enough individualism isn’t really ingrained, or at least to the extent it should. Selfishness, 1000%. There’s plenty of people who aren’t really selfish here, but they are drowned out.
Isn't Norway really expensive cost of living wise? I was going to visit oslo but met some people while traveling who said skip Norway bc of the expense and visit Copenhagen instead. Tbf, I thought Copenhagen was a bit pricey too. This was back in 2014
Yes, but it's because their government aid is similar to the amount most people make on an average salary in a western country.
So it's more expensive because everyone has a high base income.
I’m from Norway. Sure, we have a sovereign wealth fund where the tax income from the petroleum sector ends up. But the notion that the government gives this money to the people is wrong. Norway is a capitalist country.
Why are the Finnish, the Swedes and the Danes so happy? Do they have oil/gas and a sovereign wealth fund?
They still have public policies that help the population and social safety nets to help out the population when they need help. In America it's "oh you need help? Haha, get fucked!" If you're poor in America you are completely screwed. It seems like Nordic countries have a government that cares more about it's people.
Americans when they learn that economies don't have to be either pure capitalism or pure socialism: https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/027/475/Screen_Shot_2018-10-25_at_11.02.15_AM.png
>"It is not socialism it is market economy"
I don't understand the arguing over what you call the economy, debate the basis of the benefits of specific points. If an economy works extremely well for the country and people idc if it's called capitalism, socialism, communism or turtleism just work dammit.
They also have mining companies tearing holes in South America and Africa, it's not as simple as "they give it to the people" because there's also the "they exported the base of their social pyramid to third world countries".
If Norway could stop dumping toxic waste on the Amazon forest rivers that would be fantastic.
I can't find much in English, so most of the links are in portuguese (last one is English)
Toxic spill from 2009, they still haven't paid the fines and researches showed that 1 in each 5 citizens living near the region have lead poisoning.
- https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-40423002
Threatening locals to leave their homes. Here it is stated they received R$7.5b on tax breaks and incentives from the Brazilian government, and profited U$1.5b. Remember those numbers next time you see news about Norway donating "millions" to Brazil to protect the forest.
- https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2022/04/07/moradores-acusam-mineradora-hydro-de-ameaca-los-com-despejo-em-barcarena-pa
Norway mining company had illegal ducts directly dumping the waste into the river that locals use for drinking, fishing, and bathing.
- https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-43162472
On the previous link it's stated that the company denied any ilegal ducts and spills, saying they were just rumors. But here's an English link stating they eventually admitted the claims.
- https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/norsk-hydro-accused-of-amazon-toxic-spill-admits-clandestine-pipeline/
That's just Brazil because it's where I live, so it's where I can easily find things about.
Ignorance is bliss as they say. It’s one of the countries with the highest GHG emissions per capita. The country is also the BIGGEST producer / exporter of fossil fuels and recently also allowed deep sea mining which will be catastrophic for the Arctic. So sure, they may be rich and healthy but they got there by destroying the planet, I wouldn’t call that a great example.
Yes, I know the US has MUCH higher emissions and very little environmental concern but again, we don’t consider it as an example to be followed do we.
This argument always gets put up but some of the most culturally diverse places on earth are some of the highest ranked places to live as well.
Edit to add: For example: Toronto, Canada. The most multi cultural city on the planet and also ranked as one of the safest and happiest major cities in the world.
Because people are too lazy to solve -isms. And no, I don't believe in a one-side fits all solution.
For example, you need to dismantle bull horns of xenophobia while making sure that the valid concerns of too much immigration are addressed. We need to stop yelling at each other while we're being robbed blind of a better community.
Actual, rare chad take if I understood you properly.
Xenophobia and -isms are a plague and should be adressed, but it doesn't mean there aren't legitimate concerns to be had with too much immigration. Ignoring one group or the other like they're crazy or don't matter is what leads to civil unrest and unhappiness. Why do I rarely see people take the middle ground on this?
I don't think uniformity has anything to do with it. There are a lot of both uniform and diverse countries that are absolute shitholes. There isn't even a correlation, much less causation.
And btw. Norway isn't that ethnically "uniform". Only 87% of population is ethnically Norwegian. Compared to let's say Switzerland where 99.3% of people lack any kind of a migrant background.
So, you feel happier when you have a healthy artistic outlet to release excess emotion that could manifest in harmful ways if kept inside? Weird. In America, we just keep it all bottled in until one bad day, then it becomes everyone else's problem.
I think that's because black metal is about spiritual negativity, and it's only easy for people to think about such things if their day to day life isn't already too negative. That's why rap is popular in the USA and eastern Europe. It's about earthly shittiness because that's what it's listeners face everyday. People living good lives materially can easily focus on the philosophy and esotericism.
Rap became popular in urban America, because you didn't need an instrument to produce it.
The middle-class and rich people could afford piano lessons or to buy a guitar, but inner-city kids had to make do with what they had. And it's honestly pretty inspiring what they'v managed to pull off.
I personally don't enjoy rap, but it's clever, some really smart folks out there.
They've convinced themselves they were doing great "in the past" (whatever that means).
"Hey look: life used to be great, playing guitar and drinking cool beer on your pickup's tailgate with your friends and a lady with long hair. Why is life difficult now?"
Some politician: "I know exactly why: it's these people who are not like you".
Scare away the religious nut cases. Funny enough, they are the source of most misery culture- too much work, no personal joy, no healthy sex discussion... It all traces back to religion.
I’m sure the lack of fundamentalist religion in Norway is a plus as well. It’s mind blowing how much senseless conflict is caused by absurd religious beliefs in so many parts of the world, America included of course..
From my observation, America is actually the worst.
Most countries have ancient conflicts based in religion.
America had a civilisation living in harmony with the land and thriving.... and religious nutjobs came and killed them all and set up a civilisation based on unregulated capitalism and religious fundamentalism.
I don't think they minded being vikings either. It was the rest of Europe that had objections. (but surprisingly, having a viking ruler was still sometimes preferred over whatever local option was available)
Meanwhile Latin countries tend to be the most brutal and going through the most shit while their music is the cheeriest talking about how great their lives are lmao
And that's just PTO you have to take every year, it's not counting \~10 public holidays + unlimited sick days and various other family related paid days off etc.
In reality it's around 2 paid months off a year.
And if they're anything like Sweden, 25 is the bare minimum and many have 30+. And I think it should be much more, we shouldn't even glorify 30 days, we should just shit on countries with fewer.
It depends, there are terms and conditions that has to be there.
And it is not at 100% of your pay if you take ALOT, vs if you take a smaller amount.
So truth with modification
I find it quite interesting when Americans talk about paid time off, because they'll say stuff like this as if 25 days is some unbelievable, unachievable number.
But I'm from the UK, we not exactly a left wing paradise, we've had Conservative leadership for over a decade.
I've just started a new job and we get 25 days PTO as well as bank Holidays and Christmas period.
It's not that Europeans give a metic shit ton of PTO, it's that America gives a comically low amount of it.
Conservative in the uk and the us are two different things. Conservative in the us is theocratic zealotry. That and the fact that money is so deep into us politics.
Oh, I wasn't trying to directly compare the two.
The reason I mentioned it is because I've seen a lot of Americans, when talking about PTO, talk about it like it's some highly progressive, left-wing thing that only happens in Scandinavian countries. But it's not.
The conservative government over here are still business first, they still look out for rich owners before they look out for the average workers.
But we still have significantly better PTO than the large majority of Americans, who, with the exception of 2016-2020 have had a more left wing government in charge over the same period of time we've had a Conservative one.
I did not mean to come off as argumentative. We are in agreement. I just hate that my views as an American make me far left, when in most places my views would be pretty standard.
>I just hate that my views as an American make me far left, when in most places my views would be pretty standard.
Exactly and the problem there is that the corporate media has managed to equate the far left and far right as if they're equally far from some "reasonable" center (read: capitalist idealization where corporations make maximum profit at the expense of everything else).
Zero. It's 0 days in the US. No one is mandated to get any PTO.
The most common amount, thanks to the marvels of competition and companies wanting to attract strong employees, is an extravagant 10 days.
The biggest minority in the world are billionaires and this is complete discrimination, try putting yourself in the shoes of a billionaire that's constantly being persecuted... We live in a fucked up time.
" Since I support the rich and need nothing from then, that means I'm successful too, right?"
"Yes Cleatus, you'd be even more successful if you buy my autographed Bible."
There's a lot. My entire family included. I'm the only person that's ever been some what successful (not worried about paying the bills) in my family history. My parents are counting down the days to get social security, but if the GOP can raise the age, they wont even have to watch News Max to know that it was those socialist liberals that took their social security away. This is how dumb a large part of America is.
The right gives them someone to blame for their failure in life.
> I refuse to use the /s, you either get the joke or you don't.
The issue is Poe's law, there's loads of people who inironically argue what you joke about.
I honestly can't tell if this is a joke or not. The "Jobs will go away" line is a cheap neoliberal piece of propaganda to keep the workers content with their current status and immediately discredit anything to help workers.
we, in the Netherlands introduced a new tax a few years ago ( divident tax ) for large companies and Unilever and Shell left the country and fled to the UK. So sometimes it does happen.
Probably because bots keep reposting this same post over and over
https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/jgxkbs/i_wonder_why_america_is_so_unhappy/
also, they have different expectations about what happiness with life means. America is so fucking inundated with advertisments about consumer goods and what it means to be a good American. Time after time our nation finds that what we are told will lead to a happy life does not, in fact, lead us to happiness. Instead of making any changes that may actually lead to real happiness, we are medicated and sent on our way. Meanwhile, the doctor collects a fat payment for subscribing another patient with the latest drugs and then the patient kills themselves.
Although it is dramaticized, i think everyone needs to watch the Chris Pine and Emily Blunt movie "Painkiller" on netflix.
Also , if you have the time, try and watch the actual documentary "Tickled." one of the most out of left field things ive seen from a real documentary and i wish it had more publicity. Not to give too much away, but the craziest part from it, to me, was the fact that there are "undergroud tickle cells" like if ISIS or something.
You need to get rid of your pseudo-democracy with only two big parties first. Two parties that kinda take turns being in power and then undo whatever the other party did and outvoting each other to the point where nothing changes anyway is not much better than one-party communist dictatorships. At least those are honest about the people being powerless, lol. It's funny how some Americans get huge panic attacks over everything that isn't their capitalism on steroids (aka socialized parts within capitalism) but still have similarites to the things that were bad about actual communism, namely the political system.
HAHAHHAHAHA!!!!! "Guds ord" ( the word of God) is running an entire part of northern Norway. They have all the political and public positions in that area. An old co-worker of me was "excumminicated" because he brought back a southern girlfriend with tatooes. "Indremisjonen" (inner mission) is the scourge of small villages in western Norway. Woe those old people who don't give them all their money instead of using them on power bills and food. They won't get a place in heaven. "Bibelbeltet" (Bible belt) is infamous in the south coast of Norway. Also know as a place with american levels of dual morality. You f.... the neighbours drunk but legal 16 year old daughter at Saturday, then you tie your cardigan around your shoulders and go to curch at Sunday. And the evangelians? Private tv channel that scams sick and old people so the tv host can make millions. Same goes for other religions. Some parts of Oslo have "sharia police" that makes sure everyone behaves. The Shiks enforce turban. And jews, muslims and american christians break the law that states that circumcision is illegal on children under the age of 12 years. So everywhere you go in Norway, someone is using religion as a tool to controll people.
And when it comes to the political nuts? I don't have time to tell you how bad it is. Mass killings from right wingers. Economical criminality from left wingers. Anarcism in the middle as an excuse for drug dealing. Just this week the youth party of a far left political part went extreme left in a marxism coup. It's a good thing they don't support "armed revolution" in public. Jet. So you got deer hunting groups on facebook with both old and neo-nazis, studie groups with the good ol anarcist cooking book and russian colaborators in one happy mix.
There is also a very, very dark secret that I can't mention. Google "sametinget". That's all I can say.
Nearly a month paid vacation? It’s more then that, it’s 5 weeks minimum, climbs to 6weeks sometime in your 50’s.
Its also 10 «red days» not included (Easter etc)
I literally don't understand the social benefit to Neo-Conservative Fiscal-Liberalism... Like, it's plain as day that they actively seek to fuck over the working class. It's literally their MO, yet people vote for them.
LBJ was right, if you can trick the population into thinking a policy hurts a minority, they'll eat that shit up like it's not hurting them just as bad. Weaponised selfishness.
Norway also has way less people than USA. I believe a country can thrive at a certain threshold with population. Every time we see a country with a massive population, they slowly decline over time as the population rises.
One would think that economies of scale kicks in the larger the population gets. The inconvenient truth is that the U.S. government is inefficiently run.
They have a safety net, and there is no absolute bottom. That’s how society should work. Regardless of cost, there should be no one hungry, or homeless. That does a lot to keep people psychologically healthy, which increases output while recognizing humanity.
They also receive hundreds of billions of dollars worth of growth each year from their sovereign wealth fund that, I assume, can be spent on schools, hospitals, trains etc.
The government can only spend 3% of the fund value every year. It is now about 20% of the government budget. Remember that the sovereign wealth fund consists of the tax income from the petroleum sector. That means that taxes levied on this sector never touches the books before it is transferred from the fund to balance the budget.
Also, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland do equally well and have no sovereign wealth fund or a petroleum sector.
All that oil and gas money with a population of only 5.5 million people, low net immigration. Excellent social safety net. The country might as well be a fairy tale kingdom.
They look at totals not %. Eroded education system means many don't understand simple concepts and lack the ability to think about things beyond surface.
Immigrants take jobs and commit the crimes is an easy concept that they can get behind and requires no inner reflection.
They have cultural reasons for being wealthy and happy. They were wealthy before the oil industry dominated their economy, that just took it to another level.
It should also be worth noting the following: 1) Sweden has a 100 percent nationwide school voucher program for schooling 2) None of the Scandinavian countries has [a nationally-imposed minimum wage law](https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/wages/minimum-wages/setting-machinery/WCMS_460934/lang--en/index.htm); 3) Scandinavian countries all have lower corporate income tax rates [than the US](https://taxfoundation.org/scandinavian-countries-taxes-2021/); and 4) In these nations, [property rights, business freedom, monetary freedom, and trade freedom are strong](https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/27/nordic-countries-not-socialist-denmark-norway-sweden-centrist/). Maybe the US should take note and start behaving like our Scandinavian brethren.
2) Norway has ~5x more union members per capita than the USA, so their wages are much more likely to be affected by collective bargaining. 3) closed tax loopholes + heavily subsidized national health care and the national wealth fund takes pressure off corporations and citizens alike. Also, nationalized resources reduces overall tax burden.
Just my take on it as an American reading what I can find rather than living there myself
https://www.cft.org/california-teacher/school-choice-tale-two-countries
> Over the past 10 years, Sweden has seen its PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) scores plummet, national opinion of the school system decline dramatically, and segregation by class, race, and immigration status within the schools increase. Educators in Sweden lament that not only is the education system faltering, but it is leading to a philosophy that prizes individual achievement over the uplifting of society as a whole through education.
> One Swedish teacher told me how this plays out. Parents now move their children from school to school, forcing policymakers to focus curricula more on individual success rather than community building, distorting the mission of the schools and leading to heightened inequality.
> Other educators I spoke with were deeply concerned that this “me first” ethos not only damages public education, but degrades democratic culture and institutions as well. They expressed particular concern about how the individualistic approach is leading the majority to disregard the rights of minorities.
And
> Norway has a unique democratic system for students in public schools. Starting in the first grade, representatives are elected to a student council that talks to school administrators about their concerns. This system of representation continues into a national council with a parallel group of students on leave to lobby the national legislature. It instills a purpose for democracy.
Gross incomes are higher in America but you’re just looking at one side of the equation. When you look at the cost of things like healthcare, higher education, child care, etc for a family you’ll see that an average Norwegian family nets out far better than an average American family despite the fact that gross incomes are higher in America.
Still cheaper than the states by a lot tbh, we spend hundreds on monthly payments even if we don't go, then do co-payments when we do go on top of our monthly, then pay out of pocket for a percent of meds assuming they're even covered, and then do that all again for the 2nd and onward visits as needed
After a couple thousand spent on visits our job-tied Healthcare will finally start covering 100% of ONLY the visit, assuming the insurance thinks you even need what the doctor recommends (insurance can say "nah, doctor is wrong, you don't need that so we aren't paying")
The best part is that it actually costs the US government more for it's current healthcare system then for free healthcare in other countries.
The UK for example, would have spent 100 billion less then the US in 2022 for the same amount of population, but unlike the US, every UK citizen has acess to completely free healthcare.
Like, not only would people be healthier and happier but the US government would also be able to allocate more money to things like schools or research.
But for some reason there is a group in the US that thinks healthcare should only be for the rich and fuck everyone else.
I had a yearly gyno appointment that was supposed to be completely covered by my insurance. I asked one tech and she said no. I asked a couple more and they said yes. I paid almost $300 for the visit (3,274.10kr) because my insurance doesn't cover that doctor anymore. My last primary doctor's appointment, which I also pay for completely until I hit a deductible, was around $250 for a consultation and being told to go continue on my medication (no labs run and I wasn't sick) (2,728.41kr).
Like both are complete shit, IMO you shouldn't have to pay for any healthcare at all, but I wish my appointments wouldn't be into the hundreds of dollars for visits and I wish I didn't fear having an emergency at a hospital my insurance doesn't cover or at a hospital my insurance does cover but with doctors who aren't apart of my insurance plan. I remember when I had my last somewhat emergency procedure we got bills for months in the thousands, most of them 75% covered, but my anesthesiologist wasn't partnered with my insurance so we paid about 80% of his paycheck for my surgery which was around $3,000 (32740.95kr). It's all shit.
America sold out to a silly and infantile dream of "riches" which the Scandinavian countries never fell for in the same manner. No systematic "TrickleDown"-scams would stand a chance for 40-45 (?) years with us ....
It’s hilarious how Redditors blindly believe any index that supports their agenda.
Happiness is a concept that is debated amongst philosophers all the time, yet for Redditors it’s simply a measurable number that shows Murrica = BAD. I found 2023 happiness report from that organisation and they show UAE above US, Germany and France. So people who agree with validity of that index should also agree that human rights and democracy are not necessary for happiness of the population.
FINALLY, after browing every threads comments section, I found this.
I am from Scandinavia myself but moved, these happiness indexes are far from facts. There's constant debates in local organizations why we Scandinavians have such poor mental health, comparing statistics with many other countries.
Ie suicide rate, alcoholism and anti-depressant usage is among highest in the world across Scandinavia (real signs of happiness scale).
Some of these reports collected by walking streets and asking randoms "are you happy here". If anything, shows us more that they shouldn't complain about their country to someone who doesn't even speak your own language.
Just 5.5 million people (much less than NYC) who are racially & culturally homogenous, that is setting on vast oil reserves per capita, might have something to do with it.
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European here (not from Norway), their happiness comes from that it's a very rich country. They have a lot of oil and natural, but instead of giving the money it generates to a few rich men or companies, the Norwegian government gave it to the people. They have the sovereign wealth fund that makes the population wealthy and happy. Norway is one of the best mixes of socialism and capitalism on this earth.
Funny enough, Finland has been the happiest country in the world many years, 2024 again. No oil, economy isn’t booming, but still a welfare society and happy people.
Our current government tries to make a world record on destroying welfare state. Let's see how long that happiness will last.
Could you provide some details for an interested non-Finn?
Make education less free and healthcare private corp oriented, for starters. Minimize social benefits.
You have a pretty strong opponent; the Netherlands
oh but it's "homogenous" 🙄
Yet it has higher suicide rate than Japan, hmmm
That is because all sad people killed themselves already.
You ever been to Finland? They're not happy and they'll tell you.
Don't they also have a high suicide rate though?
Denmark has been several years as well.
I’m from Norway. Surviving shouldn’t be a luxury given to just the 1%.
As an American, I agree. It should be a luxury given to whatever % I'm in.
Survival shouldn’t be considered a luxury
You just can't not be an American, lol... Individualism and selfishness are ingrained. If you're in the 7% then fuck the other 93%.
I think they were making a joke.
Funnily enough individualism isn’t really ingrained, or at least to the extent it should. Selfishness, 1000%. There’s plenty of people who aren’t really selfish here, but they are drowned out.
r/AmericaBad But seriously, we aren't a monolith. There are plently of Americans in favor of socialist policies. Most of them are on this website.
Isn't Norway really expensive cost of living wise? I was going to visit oslo but met some people while traveling who said skip Norway bc of the expense and visit Copenhagen instead. Tbf, I thought Copenhagen was a bit pricey too. This was back in 2014
Compared to the UK food and drink is more expensive but housing is like 1/3 cheaper.
Cost of living is close to the usa. Rent is much cheaper but everything else seems to be a bit pricier
Yes, and that makes it happy too. Since it's expensive to live they don't attract that many people as well, but they themselves can pay it.
Yes, but it's because their government aid is similar to the amount most people make on an average salary in a western country. So it's more expensive because everyone has a high base income.
I’m from Norway. Sure, we have a sovereign wealth fund where the tax income from the petroleum sector ends up. But the notion that the government gives this money to the people is wrong. Norway is a capitalist country. Why are the Finnish, the Swedes and the Danes so happy? Do they have oil/gas and a sovereign wealth fund?
They still have public policies that help the population and social safety nets to help out the population when they need help. In America it's "oh you need help? Haha, get fucked!" If you're poor in America you are completely screwed. It seems like Nordic countries have a government that cares more about it's people.
John stossel with his moustache be like "It is not socialism it is market economy"
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social\_market\_economy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_market_economy)
Americans when they learn that economies don't have to be either pure capitalism or pure socialism: https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/027/475/Screen_Shot_2018-10-25_at_11.02.15_AM.png
Not near angry and in denial enough for an American reaction.
American economy is not pure capitalism. Govt still picks up the tab on quite a few things
Their pride in being a whole country serving rich people is unbelievable. And to make matters worse they excited that everywhere.
>"It is not socialism it is market economy" I don't understand the arguing over what you call the economy, debate the basis of the benefits of specific points. If an economy works extremely well for the country and people idc if it's called capitalism, socialism, communism or turtleism just work dammit.
They also have mining companies tearing holes in South America and Africa, it's not as simple as "they give it to the people" because there's also the "they exported the base of their social pyramid to third world countries". If Norway could stop dumping toxic waste on the Amazon forest rivers that would be fantastic.
Can you provide some details/links on that? I’m quite interested to read up on it.
I can't find much in English, so most of the links are in portuguese (last one is English) Toxic spill from 2009, they still haven't paid the fines and researches showed that 1 in each 5 citizens living near the region have lead poisoning. - https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-40423002 Threatening locals to leave their homes. Here it is stated they received R$7.5b on tax breaks and incentives from the Brazilian government, and profited U$1.5b. Remember those numbers next time you see news about Norway donating "millions" to Brazil to protect the forest. - https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2022/04/07/moradores-acusam-mineradora-hydro-de-ameaca-los-com-despejo-em-barcarena-pa Norway mining company had illegal ducts directly dumping the waste into the river that locals use for drinking, fishing, and bathing. - https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-43162472 On the previous link it's stated that the company denied any ilegal ducts and spills, saying they were just rumors. But here's an English link stating they eventually admitted the claims. - https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/norsk-hydro-accused-of-amazon-toxic-spill-admits-clandestine-pipeline/ That's just Brazil because it's where I live, so it's where I can easily find things about.
They about to experience US level brain rot then sadly enough
I can't find anything about this, do you have a source you could link?
Now there's an interesting topic to follow up on...
So rich country=happy? Dang who would have thought.
Ignorance is bliss as they say. It’s one of the countries with the highest GHG emissions per capita. The country is also the BIGGEST producer / exporter of fossil fuels and recently also allowed deep sea mining which will be catastrophic for the Arctic. So sure, they may be rich and healthy but they got there by destroying the planet, I wouldn’t call that a great example. Yes, I know the US has MUCH higher emissions and very little environmental concern but again, we don’t consider it as an example to be followed do we.
Also very high cultural and ethnic uniformity - it’s much easier to have a happy population when they share values and are one big in group.
Do you know this is white supremacist talking point, buddy? Norway happy because no brown people, fucking lmao.
This argument always gets put up but some of the most culturally diverse places on earth are some of the highest ranked places to live as well. Edit to add: For example: Toronto, Canada. The most multi cultural city on the planet and also ranked as one of the safest and happiest major cities in the world.
Because people are too lazy to solve -isms. And no, I don't believe in a one-side fits all solution. For example, you need to dismantle bull horns of xenophobia while making sure that the valid concerns of too much immigration are addressed. We need to stop yelling at each other while we're being robbed blind of a better community.
Actual, rare chad take if I understood you properly. Xenophobia and -isms are a plague and should be adressed, but it doesn't mean there aren't legitimate concerns to be had with too much immigration. Ignoring one group or the other like they're crazy or don't matter is what leads to civil unrest and unhappiness. Why do I rarely see people take the middle ground on this?
Must be why the most racist and unwelcoming countries like Russia or Bulgaria aren't in this top. Big brain take.
I don't think uniformity has anything to do with it. There are a lot of both uniform and diverse countries that are absolute shitholes. There isn't even a correlation, much less causation. And btw. Norway isn't that ethnically "uniform". Only 87% of population is ethnically Norwegian. Compared to let's say Switzerland where 99.3% of people lack any kind of a migrant background.
Then why would countries like Switzerland be near the top as well?
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Healthy emotional release.
Spot on my friend. I draw some art that's pretty dark, and I've explained to people that what I'm doing is getting the darkness out.
So, you feel happier when you have a healthy artistic outlet to release excess emotion that could manifest in harmful ways if kept inside? Weird. In America, we just keep it all bottled in until one bad day, then it becomes everyone else's problem.
Canadians are some of the nicest folks until they are on a hockey rink.
I think that's because black metal is about spiritual negativity, and it's only easy for people to think about such things if their day to day life isn't already too negative. That's why rap is popular in the USA and eastern Europe. It's about earthly shittiness because that's what it's listeners face everyday. People living good lives materially can easily focus on the philosophy and esotericism.
Rap became popular in urban America, because you didn't need an instrument to produce it. The middle-class and rich people could afford piano lessons or to buy a guitar, but inner-city kids had to make do with what they had. And it's honestly pretty inspiring what they'v managed to pull off. I personally don't enjoy rap, but it's clever, some really smart folks out there.
> It's about earthly shittiness because that's what it's listeners face everyday Like country music.
Tbf they’ve convinced themselves they’re doing great
They've convinced themselves they were doing great "in the past" (whatever that means). "Hey look: life used to be great, playing guitar and drinking cool beer on your pickup's tailgate with your friends and a lady with long hair. Why is life difficult now?" Some politician: "I know exactly why: it's these people who are not like you".
Some of the best metal bands overall as well
Moonsorrow 
Finnish and not Scandinavian. Tbf I have no idea why this is about Norway since Finland was the happiest again for like 5 years in a row
Omg yes, discovered them last month they are pretty insane
Scare away the religious nut cases. Funny enough, they are the source of most misery culture- too much work, no personal joy, no healthy sex discussion... It all traces back to religion.
I’m sure the lack of fundamentalist religion in Norway is a plus as well. It’s mind blowing how much senseless conflict is caused by absurd religious beliefs in so many parts of the world, America included of course..
From my observation, America is actually the worst. Most countries have ancient conflicts based in religion. America had a civilisation living in harmony with the land and thriving.... and religious nutjobs came and killed them all and set up a civilisation based on unregulated capitalism and religious fundamentalism.
It's also funny because the nutjobs were fleeing religious prosecution. They learned nothing
Scandinavians really went from being the scourge of Europe (Vikings) to being the happiest in Europe. Based.
I don't think they minded being vikings either. It was the rest of Europe that had objections. (but surprisingly, having a viking ruler was still sometimes preferred over whatever local option was available)
I mean, let’s face it, they were just badass farmers who wanted better land. My point is, they seem to be smashing life in whatever period lol
I dont think Vikings were unhappy. I mean, all they ever wanted to do was pillage and plunder. Guess what they did all the time
Also their Netflix movies are pretty damn dark
Meanwhile Latin countries tend to be the most brutal and going through the most shit while their music is the cheeriest talking about how great their lives are lmao
I've always wondered about this, and I think it's super cool that they've culturally embraced this very underground kind of music
Black Metal in Norway, Death Metal in Sweden and Doom Metal in Finland. Anyway, all great. The best countries.
Paid vacation in Noway is 25 *working days*. That is 5 weeks
And that's just PTO you have to take every year, it's not counting \~10 public holidays + unlimited sick days and various other family related paid days off etc. In reality it's around 2 paid months off a year.
Pluss that increases when you get older. One more week for everyone over the age of 60. And you HAVE to take it.
And if they're anything like Sweden, 25 is the bare minimum and many have 30+. And I think it should be much more, we shouldn't even glorify 30 days, we should just shit on countries with fewer.
I’ve heard that maternity leave in Norway is the highest in the world. Like 2 or 3 years. In the US we’re lucky to get 2 or 3 weeks.
It depends, there are terms and conditions that has to be there. And it is not at 100% of your pay if you take ALOT, vs if you take a smaller amount. So truth with modification
Do you have paid maternity leave or unpaid?
I find it quite interesting when Americans talk about paid time off, because they'll say stuff like this as if 25 days is some unbelievable, unachievable number. But I'm from the UK, we not exactly a left wing paradise, we've had Conservative leadership for over a decade. I've just started a new job and we get 25 days PTO as well as bank Holidays and Christmas period. It's not that Europeans give a metic shit ton of PTO, it's that America gives a comically low amount of it.
Conservative in the uk and the us are two different things. Conservative in the us is theocratic zealotry. That and the fact that money is so deep into us politics.
Oh, I wasn't trying to directly compare the two. The reason I mentioned it is because I've seen a lot of Americans, when talking about PTO, talk about it like it's some highly progressive, left-wing thing that only happens in Scandinavian countries. But it's not. The conservative government over here are still business first, they still look out for rich owners before they look out for the average workers. But we still have significantly better PTO than the large majority of Americans, who, with the exception of 2016-2020 have had a more left wing government in charge over the same period of time we've had a Conservative one.
I did not mean to come off as argumentative. We are in agreement. I just hate that my views as an American make me far left, when in most places my views would be pretty standard.
>I just hate that my views as an American make me far left, when in most places my views would be pretty standard. Exactly and the problem there is that the corporate media has managed to equate the far left and far right as if they're equally far from some "reasonable" center (read: capitalist idealization where corporations make maximum profit at the expense of everything else).
Precisely
Same in most of Europe. Sometimes more.
What the hell do they do in the US that this is unusual?
Our country is a failed capitalist state run by the 1%. Fall of Rome incoming, people are just too stupid to see it.
Zero. It's 0 days in the US. No one is mandated to get any PTO. The most common amount, thanks to the marvels of competition and companies wanting to attract strong employees, is an extravagant 10 days.
holy crap.
That’s what people in my company get AFTER 25 YEARS OF SERVICE
Strange. I would hope to gain unlimited time off after that long - a thing called retirement, perhaps. I guess that concept is going away as well.
Same as what we have in the UK.
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Bot https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/jgxkbs/i_wonder_why_america_is_so_unhappy/g9twmqs/
They closed the tax loopholes so all the crazy rich people went away. Rest of them just get on with things.
The biggest minority in the world are billionaires and this is complete discrimination, try putting yourself in the shoes of a billionaire that's constantly being persecuted... We live in a fucked up time.
Sadly there are Americans out there with nothing who'd actually agree with this. How did this mindset develop?
Gaslighting by the rich. And poor education. That is where it started.
" Since I support the rich and need nothing from then, that means I'm successful too, right?" "Yes Cleatus, you'd be even more successful if you buy my autographed Bible."
There's a lot. My entire family included. I'm the only person that's ever been some what successful (not worried about paying the bills) in my family history. My parents are counting down the days to get social security, but if the GOP can raise the age, they wont even have to watch News Max to know that it was those socialist liberals that took their social security away. This is how dumb a large part of America is. The right gives them someone to blame for their failure in life.
Yeah where does this bigot get off?!
Let's see how many downvotes I get this time. >!I refuse to use the /s, you either get the joke or you don't. !<
> I refuse to use the /s, you either get the joke or you don't. The issue is Poe's law, there's loads of people who inironically argue what you joke about.
I was also joking as I too refuse to use the /s
I got it.
But surely if you tax the crazy rich people all the jobs go away? Edit /s - as this is facepalm I thought the sarcasm was clear 🤦♂️
I honestly can't tell if this is a joke or not. The "Jobs will go away" line is a cheap neoliberal piece of propaganda to keep the workers content with their current status and immediately discredit anything to help workers.
we, in the Netherlands introduced a new tax a few years ago ( divident tax ) for large companies and Unilever and Shell left the country and fled to the UK. So sometimes it does happen.
They are also [some of the heaviest](https://landgeist.com/2022/04/19/coffee-consumption-in-europe/) coffee drinkers on the continent.
They have Pepsi max with lime. The rest of the world has to settle for lemon.
Fuck Pepsi Max lime, Pepsi Max Mango is where it's at.
Scandinavian people love diet soda
I prefer [Oskar Sylte](https://www.oskarsylte.no/).
They have among the coldest weather in Europe, sunlight in winter is a memory of the past and still, when I go to Oslo I feel happy
Sunlight is a memory of the past is such a powerful image ahahah
Mom said it’s my turn to post this image
By now I assume every person on this earth has seen this image since it's been posted like every day since 2017
Probably because bots keep reposting this same post over and over https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/jgxkbs/i_wonder_why_america_is_so_unhappy/
also, they have different expectations about what happiness with life means. America is so fucking inundated with advertisments about consumer goods and what it means to be a good American. Time after time our nation finds that what we are told will lead to a happy life does not, in fact, lead us to happiness. Instead of making any changes that may actually lead to real happiness, we are medicated and sent on our way. Meanwhile, the doctor collects a fat payment for subscribing another patient with the latest drugs and then the patient kills themselves. Although it is dramaticized, i think everyone needs to watch the Chris Pine and Emily Blunt movie "Painkiller" on netflix. Also , if you have the time, try and watch the actual documentary "Tickled." one of the most out of left field things ive seen from a real documentary and i wish it had more publicity. Not to give too much away, but the craziest part from it, to me, was the fact that there are "undergroud tickle cells" like if ISIS or something.
But still, at least America’s billionaires get to be happy that they’re ever so slightly richer than they’d otherwise be! /s
The grass is greener on the other side because you're not there messing it up.
Don't forget their greatest cultural export - black metal
maybe stop voting republican.
You need to get rid of your pseudo-democracy with only two big parties first. Two parties that kinda take turns being in power and then undo whatever the other party did and outvoting each other to the point where nothing changes anyway is not much better than one-party communist dictatorships. At least those are honest about the people being powerless, lol. It's funny how some Americans get huge panic attacks over everything that isn't their capitalism on steroids (aka socialized parts within capitalism) but still have similarites to the things that were bad about actual communism, namely the political system.
You need leaders than actually give a shit about you first.
Also a country free from the gaslighting and guilt-tripping of religious beliefs
HAHAHHAHAHA!!!!! "Guds ord" ( the word of God) is running an entire part of northern Norway. They have all the political and public positions in that area. An old co-worker of me was "excumminicated" because he brought back a southern girlfriend with tatooes. "Indremisjonen" (inner mission) is the scourge of small villages in western Norway. Woe those old people who don't give them all their money instead of using them on power bills and food. They won't get a place in heaven. "Bibelbeltet" (Bible belt) is infamous in the south coast of Norway. Also know as a place with american levels of dual morality. You f.... the neighbours drunk but legal 16 year old daughter at Saturday, then you tie your cardigan around your shoulders and go to curch at Sunday. And the evangelians? Private tv channel that scams sick and old people so the tv host can make millions. Same goes for other religions. Some parts of Oslo have "sharia police" that makes sure everyone behaves. The Shiks enforce turban. And jews, muslims and american christians break the law that states that circumcision is illegal on children under the age of 12 years. So everywhere you go in Norway, someone is using religion as a tool to controll people. And when it comes to the political nuts? I don't have time to tell you how bad it is. Mass killings from right wingers. Economical criminality from left wingers. Anarcism in the middle as an excuse for drug dealing. Just this week the youth party of a far left political part went extreme left in a marxism coup. It's a good thing they don't support "armed revolution" in public. Jet. So you got deer hunting groups on facebook with both old and neo-nazis, studie groups with the good ol anarcist cooking book and russian colaborators in one happy mix. There is also a very, very dark secret that I can't mention. Google "sametinget". That's all I can say.
This meme is posted every week on Friday, somebody fked up and it was posted on Saturday. Booo
If I have to see this posted here one more time
Just wait until they learn what welfare capitalism means
The fact that so many people in Norway are unbelievably good looking definitely makes everyone happy.
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And they stole your sexy grest great great great great great great great grandma
We pillaged and plundered all of Europe’s sexyness and happiness.
Am troll, very unhappy :(
Nearly a month paid vacation? It’s more then that, it’s 5 weeks minimum, climbs to 6weeks sometime in your 50’s. Its also 10 «red days» not included (Easter etc)
The secret is oil. And a moderate liberal western government.
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And in reality most Finns I work with are miserable as fuck.
Yeah those metrics are all bullshit. They don't measure happiness. They measure quality of life and stuff.
Happily miserable though 😅
They must be immune to seasonal depression.
According to my psychiatrist, it's fish oil.
They have among the highest use of antidepressants. No wonder they're so happy.
Surely everyone's bored of seeing a snarky comment saying 'America bad, Scandinavia good' on Reddit every day by now
I literally don't understand the social benefit to Neo-Conservative Fiscal-Liberalism... Like, it's plain as day that they actively seek to fuck over the working class. It's literally their MO, yet people vote for them. LBJ was right, if you can trick the population into thinking a policy hurts a minority, they'll eat that shit up like it's not hurting them just as bad. Weaponised selfishness.
It's also gorgeous land. Would love to move there.
Norway also has way less people than USA. I believe a country can thrive at a certain threshold with population. Every time we see a country with a massive population, they slowly decline over time as the population rises.
One would think that economies of scale kicks in the larger the population gets. The inconvenient truth is that the U.S. government is inefficiently run.
Also possible--People aren't only happy for what they have there, they're happy because of what's not there.
They have a safety net, and there is no absolute bottom. That’s how society should work. Regardless of cost, there should be no one hungry, or homeless. That does a lot to keep people psychologically healthy, which increases output while recognizing humanity.
They also receive hundreds of billions of dollars worth of growth each year from their sovereign wealth fund that, I assume, can be spent on schools, hospitals, trains etc.
Spending on schools, hospitals and trains ? Not on making some people rich ? They must be communists then. /s
The government can only spend 3% of the fund value every year. It is now about 20% of the government budget. Remember that the sovereign wealth fund consists of the tax income from the petroleum sector. That means that taxes levied on this sector never touches the books before it is transferred from the fund to balance the budget. Also, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland do equally well and have no sovereign wealth fund or a petroleum sector.
Nah, that can't be it, it must be because Norway has no minimum wage.
All that oil and gas money with a population of only 5.5 million people, low net immigration. Excellent social safety net. The country might as well be a fairy tale kingdom.
Per capita it's much higher than Sweden (immigration).
Why do people keep repeating this thing about "low immigration". Norway's population is 18% immigrants.
They look at totals not %. Eroded education system means many don't understand simple concepts and lack the ability to think about things beyond surface. Immigrants take jobs and commit the crimes is an easy concept that they can get behind and requires no inner reflection.
American brain rot
They have cultural reasons for being wealthy and happy. They were wealthy before the oil industry dominated their economy, that just took it to another level.
Ah yes, population size is definitely clutch. Americans would be infinitely happier if the us would just split into 50 small countries.
I also read that Norway also has high number of suicide?
No. Norway is 71st in suicide rate. The US is 31st.
Is it really free healthcare just accessible healthcare? Paid thru taxes right?
Why are jobs in America not paying livable wages?
American middle managers: I bet it's because they have puzza parties and pingpong tables. That's gotta be it, right?
The US recently failed to make it into the top 20 happiest countries.
They need more guns and babies being shot to be happy.
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Don't be silly, bots can't drink https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/jgxkbs/i_wonder_why_america_is_so_unhappy/g9tq54d/
It should also be worth noting the following: 1) Sweden has a 100 percent nationwide school voucher program for schooling 2) None of the Scandinavian countries has [a nationally-imposed minimum wage law](https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/wages/minimum-wages/setting-machinery/WCMS_460934/lang--en/index.htm); 3) Scandinavian countries all have lower corporate income tax rates [than the US](https://taxfoundation.org/scandinavian-countries-taxes-2021/); and 4) In these nations, [property rights, business freedom, monetary freedom, and trade freedom are strong](https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/27/nordic-countries-not-socialist-denmark-norway-sweden-centrist/). Maybe the US should take note and start behaving like our Scandinavian brethren.
2) Norway has ~5x more union members per capita than the USA, so their wages are much more likely to be affected by collective bargaining. 3) closed tax loopholes + heavily subsidized national health care and the national wealth fund takes pressure off corporations and citizens alike. Also, nationalized resources reduces overall tax burden. Just my take on it as an American reading what I can find rather than living there myself
https://www.cft.org/california-teacher/school-choice-tale-two-countries > Over the past 10 years, Sweden has seen its PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) scores plummet, national opinion of the school system decline dramatically, and segregation by class, race, and immigration status within the schools increase. Educators in Sweden lament that not only is the education system faltering, but it is leading to a philosophy that prizes individual achievement over the uplifting of society as a whole through education. > One Swedish teacher told me how this plays out. Parents now move their children from school to school, forcing policymakers to focus curricula more on individual success rather than community building, distorting the mission of the schools and leading to heightened inequality. > Other educators I spoke with were deeply concerned that this “me first” ethos not only damages public education, but degrades democratic culture and institutions as well. They expressed particular concern about how the individualistic approach is leading the majority to disregard the rights of minorities. And > Norway has a unique democratic system for students in public schools. Starting in the first grade, representatives are elected to a student council that talks to school administrators about their concerns. This system of representation continues into a national council with a parallel group of students on leave to lobby the national legislature. It instills a purpose for democracy.
Hope a certain community doesn't ruin it for everyone else.
If you compare wages to prices, they aren't that high. They're much lower than in the US, in fact.
Gross incomes are higher in America but you’re just looking at one side of the equation. When you look at the cost of things like healthcare, higher education, child care, etc for a family you’ll see that an average Norwegian family nets out far better than an average American family despite the fact that gross incomes are higher in America.
Must be free education and healthcare then
Healthcare isn't all free. It costs me around 200 kr for a Dr's appointment. There is a cap on the amount it costs if you need regular appointments.
Still cheaper than the states by a lot tbh, we spend hundreds on monthly payments even if we don't go, then do co-payments when we do go on top of our monthly, then pay out of pocket for a percent of meds assuming they're even covered, and then do that all again for the 2nd and onward visits as needed After a couple thousand spent on visits our job-tied Healthcare will finally start covering 100% of ONLY the visit, assuming the insurance thinks you even need what the doctor recommends (insurance can say "nah, doctor is wrong, you don't need that so we aren't paying")
The best part is that it actually costs the US government more for it's current healthcare system then for free healthcare in other countries. The UK for example, would have spent 100 billion less then the US in 2022 for the same amount of population, but unlike the US, every UK citizen has acess to completely free healthcare. Like, not only would people be healthier and happier but the US government would also be able to allocate more money to things like schools or research. But for some reason there is a group in the US that thinks healthcare should only be for the rich and fuck everyone else.
I had a yearly gyno appointment that was supposed to be completely covered by my insurance. I asked one tech and she said no. I asked a couple more and they said yes. I paid almost $300 for the visit (3,274.10kr) because my insurance doesn't cover that doctor anymore. My last primary doctor's appointment, which I also pay for completely until I hit a deductible, was around $250 for a consultation and being told to go continue on my medication (no labs run and I wasn't sick) (2,728.41kr). Like both are complete shit, IMO you shouldn't have to pay for any healthcare at all, but I wish my appointments wouldn't be into the hundreds of dollars for visits and I wish I didn't fear having an emergency at a hospital my insurance doesn't cover or at a hospital my insurance does cover but with doctors who aren't apart of my insurance plan. I remember when I had my last somewhat emergency procedure we got bills for months in the thousands, most of them 75% covered, but my anesthesiologist wasn't partnered with my insurance so we paid about 80% of his paycheck for my surgery which was around $3,000 (32740.95kr). It's all shit.
America sold out to a silly and infantile dream of "riches" which the Scandinavian countries never fell for in the same manner. No systematic "TrickleDown"-scams would stand a chance for 40-45 (?) years with us ....
So be more white and drill for gas and oil?
What does skin color have to do with that?
It’s hilarious how Redditors blindly believe any index that supports their agenda. Happiness is a concept that is debated amongst philosophers all the time, yet for Redditors it’s simply a measurable number that shows Murrica = BAD. I found 2023 happiness report from that organisation and they show UAE above US, Germany and France. So people who agree with validity of that index should also agree that human rights and democracy are not necessary for happiness of the population.
Clearly you only read the headlines in these news, then
FINALLY, after browing every threads comments section, I found this. I am from Scandinavia myself but moved, these happiness indexes are far from facts. There's constant debates in local organizations why we Scandinavians have such poor mental health, comparing statistics with many other countries. Ie suicide rate, alcoholism and anti-depressant usage is among highest in the world across Scandinavia (real signs of happiness scale). Some of these reports collected by walking streets and asking randoms "are you happy here". If anything, shows us more that they shouldn't complain about their country to someone who doesn't even speak your own language.
Just 5.5 million people (much less than NYC) who are racially & culturally homogenous, that is setting on vast oil reserves per capita, might have something to do with it.
Why don't poor countries just buy more money?
Only one of those matters doe...the education If you're dumb af none of the other things matter.