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Francesca Rudkin: What we can learn from the World Happiness Report · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: Right. Did the news yesterday the economy has grown more
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  Speaker 1: than expected put you in a good mood for the week.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe the news that Fonterra has done so well put
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  Speaker 1: a spring in your step. Or the opportunity to grab
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  Speaker 1: a bargain and the aft to pay sales this weekend
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  Speaker 1: is that putting a smile on your face? Or maybe
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  Speaker 1: none of these things had an impact on your happiness.
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  Speaker 1: According to the World Happiness Report, which was published yesterday
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  Speaker 1: by the Well Being Research Center at the University of Oxford,
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  Speaker 1: happiness isn't just about wealth or growth. It's about trust,
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  Speaker 1: connection and knowing people have your back. It is not
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  Speaker 1: a huge surprise. Finland is the happiest country in twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty five for the eighth year in a row. Denmark,
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  Speaker 1: Iceland and Sweden came in at second, third, and fourth,
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  Speaker 1: and Costa Rica and Mexico both ranked in the top
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  Speaker 1: ten for the first time. New Zealand came in at twelfth,
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  Speaker 1: between Australia and Switzerland. Now look, I tend to roll
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  Speaker 1: my eyes every time we compare New Zealand to a
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  Speaker 1: Scandinavian country. We make constant comparisons due to population size,
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  Speaker 1: but we are different countries with different resources and really
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  Speaker 1: follow their lead, but it isn't triguing to look at
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  Speaker 1: why Finland is such a happy place. According to the
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  Speaker 1: managing director at Galop, who partnered on the study, the
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  Speaker 1: reason finished people are happier than most is because of
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  Speaker 1: a belief in others, optimism for the future, trust and institutions,
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  Speaker 1: and support from friends and family. Does any of that
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  Speaker 1: feel familiar to us right now? I kind of feel
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  Speaker 1: like twelve for New Zealand feels about right. Between twenty
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  Speaker 1: sixteen and twenty twenty, we were eighth and we've been
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  Speaker 1: slowly slipping down the list since twenty twenty one. Look,
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  Speaker 1: we all know that health and wealth are not solely
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  Speaker 1: responsible for happiness, but they play a part. The less
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  Speaker 1: you have to stress about them, the more you can
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  Speaker 1: focus on being happy. But the studies turned up some
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  Speaker 1: unexpected strong predictors of well being. Sharing meals with others,
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  Speaker 1: having someone to count on for social support, and household
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  Speaker 1: size all play a part. Basically, social connection is key
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  Speaker 1: to happiness in this era of social isolation and polarization.
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  Speaker 1: This applies particularly to young adults. The study found that
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  Speaker 1: nineteen percent of young adults across the World reported that
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  Speaker 1: they have no one they could count on for social support.
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  Speaker 1: That's a thirty nine percent increase compared to two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and six. It may, of course, be a hangover from
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  Speaker 1: the pandemic, or, more likely, the consequence of giving our
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  Speaker 1: lives over to devices and social media. The Harvard Study
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  Speaker 1: of Adult Development, the famous eighty plus year's study into Happiness,
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  Speaker 1: has already established a strong correlation between deep relationships and
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  Speaker 1: well being. So look, this revelation about social connection isn't news.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe it's an important reminder though, for us all to
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  Speaker 1: put our phones down, sit up at the dining table
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  Speaker 1: and have a chat. For more. From Early Edition with
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  Speaker 1: Ryan Bridge. Listen live to news talks that be from
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  Speaker 1: five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.