Article from The Washington post

In Norway, oil prices have fallen, a threat to one of its main industries. Across much of the country, average daytime temperatures still hover around the freezing point.

And yet, Norway is the happiest country on Earth, according to the 2017 World Happiness Report, an annual ranking of 155 countries published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, a United Nations initiative. The Scandinavian country unseated Denmark for the top spot on this year’s list, published Monday in conjunction with the U.N.’s International Day of Happiness.

Not far behind Norway are Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and Finland. Tied for ninth are the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden.

The author of a chapter called “Restoring American Happiness”,  economist and Columbia University professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, wrote:

“The country is mired in a roiling social crisis that is getting worse,” Sachs wrote. “Yet the dominant political discourse is all about raising the rate of economic growth. And the prescriptions for faster growth—mainly deregulation and tax cuts — are likely to exacerbate, not reduce social tensions. Almost surely, further tax cuts will increase inequality, social tensions, and the social and economic divide between those with a college degree and those without.”

Read the whole article on The Washington Post website.