全球幸福指数排行榜出炉 芬兰高居榜首

Finland is the world’s happiest country, according to an annual survey issued last week that put Burundi at the bottom of the happiness index. The survey also found Americans were getting less happy even as their country became richer.

The U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s (SDSN) 2018 World Happiness Report ranked 156 countries according to their scores for things such as GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, social freedom, generosity and absence of corruption.

Finland rose from fifth place last year to oust Norway from the top spot. The 2018 top five, dominated by the Nordics as usual, are Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland.

The United States came in at 18th, down from 14th place last year. Britain was 19th and the United Arab Emirates 20th.

One chapter of the 170-page report is dedicated to emerging health problems such as obesity, depression and the opioid crisis, particularly in the United States where the prevalence of all three has grown faster than in most other countries.

While income per capita has increased markedly in the United States over the last half century, the happiness index has been hit by weakened social support networks, a rise in perception of corruption in government and business and declining confidence in public institutions.

“We obviously have a social crisis in the United States: more inequality, less trust, less confidence in government,” the head of the SDSN, Professor Jeffrey Sachs of New York’s Columbia University, told Reuters.

For the first time since it was started in 2012, the report, which uses a variety of polling organizations, official figures and research methods, ranked the happiness of foreign-born immigrants in 117 countries.

Finland took top honors in that category too, giving the country a statistical double-gold status. The foreign-born were least happy in Syria, which has been mired in civil war for seven years.

“The most striking finding of the report is the remarkable consistency between the happiness of immigrants and the locally born,” said Professor John Helliwell of Canada’s University of British Columbia.Words to Learn

相关词汇

【占优势】

zhàn yōushì

dominate enjoy a commanding, controlling position in

【普遍】pǔbiàn

prevalence being general or widespread

根据周三发布的一项年度调查，芬兰是世界上最幸福的国家，布隆迪在幸福指数排名中垫底。尽管美国越来越富有，但美国人民却越来越不快乐。

联合国可持续发展解决方案网络（SDSN）发布的这份2018年全球幸福报告根据人均国内生产总值、社会支持、健康预期寿命、社会自由、慷慨程度和腐败程度等指标的得分对156个国家和地区进行了排名。

芬兰去年在榜单中排名第五，今年超过挪威高居榜首。榜单前五位仍主要被北欧国家占据，分别是芬兰、挪威、丹麦、冰岛和瑞士。

美国排名第18，比去年的排名（第14）下滑。英国排在第19，阿联酋排在第20。

这份170页的报告中有一章专门讲述所出现的健康问题，比如肥胖、抑郁和鸦片类药物危机等等，特别是在美国，上述三种健康问题比其他大多数国家都更普遍。

尽管在过去50年美国的人均收入大幅增长，但幸福指数却因为削弱的社会支持网络、越来越多的民众认为政府和商界存在腐败以及对公共机构信心下降而出现倒退。

SDSN负责人、纽约哥伦比亚大学的杰佛瑞•萨克斯教授告诉路透社记者说：“美国当然存在社会危机：不平等更多、信任更少、对政府信心削弱。”

这项调查最早在2012年开展，综合利用多个调查机构、官方数据和研究方法进行统计，今年还首次对117个国家和地区的国外出生移民幸福指数进行了调查。

芬兰在此项调查中也高居榜首，使之成为调查中的双料冠军。叙利亚在此项调查中排名垫底，该国国内战乱已持续七年。

加拿大英属哥伦比亚大学的约翰•海利威尔教授说：“报告最令人震惊的发现是移民和当地出生居民的幸福感趋同。”

(Chinadaily.com.cn)