Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Climb off that ol' hedonic treadmill!:

The world is becoming a happier place, a study published in this month's Perspectives of Psychological Science shows.

..."The belief has been that no matter what happens or what we do, basic happiness levels are stable and don't really change."

But the University of Michigan study, which was part of the ongoing World Values Surveys, appeared to disprove that theory.

...Among the 52 countries for which long-term comparative data were available, India, Ireland, Mexico, Puerto Rico and South Korea showed steep upticks in happiness last year, while the happiness quotient in 14 other countries, including nine in Europe, also rose, but less sharply.

Those 14 countries are Argentina, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Spain and Sweden.

In the United States, Switzerland and Norway, happiness was stagnant, but all three countries were still in the top 20 of 97 nations, representing 90 percent of the world's population, that were ranked in order for happiness.

Denmark ranked at the top of that list and Zimbabwe at the bottom.

..."The results clearly show that the happiest societies are those that allow people the freedom to choose how to live their lives," Inglehart said, citing the tolerant social norms and democratic political systems in Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Canada -- all of which rank among the 10 happiest countries in the world.