The UN published the 'World Happiness Report', which reviews the state of happiness in the world. Russia took 56th place. Azerbaijan is in the middle of the list with 81st place. Armenia and Georgia are at the end of the rating, occupying 121st and 126th place respectively, not far away from Ghana, Senegal and Congo.
According to the survey, Denmark is the world's happiest country, Switzerland is in second place. The top ten were occupied mostly by inhabitants of Scandinavia: Iceland is the third happiest country, Norway is the fourth, Finland is in 5th place, Sweden, the top ten is closed by Sweden. Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand were also included in the top ten.
The happiest people in the former Soviet Union live in Uzbekistan: the country is in 49th place. It is followed by Kazakhstan (54th place), Moldova (55th place), India (61st place) and Turkmenistan (65th). Kyrgyzstan is located in 85th place, Tajikistan is 100th, Ukraine is 123rd.
The study was conducted taking into account both objective factors (quality of life, the development of health and social support in the country) and subjective (positive and negative evaluations, which were given by residents of countries, on freedom to make life decisions and the level of corruption).
The first places are held by countries with a good and well-developed social system and greater GDP per capita, but a high number of suicides (Finland, Switzerland). Armenia and Georgia are at the bottom of the ranking: the suicide rate is low there, but GDP is low as well and the citizens actively express dissatisfaction with the authorities due to corruption.
Another important factor in the rating is equality: countries, where everybody, not just separate groups of people, has high incomes and education opportunities, were provided a higher level of happiness.
In general, the level of happiness in the world in 2015 increased slightly due to Africa.
The head of the Center for Global Studies, Nana Devdariani, said in conversation with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza that she is skeptical about such reports, as they are often artificial and may not display such a philosophical concept as happiness, because each country has its own perception about it.
"It is very difficult to measure in numbers and percentages where people are more happy. And besides, how can one think that the whole nation can be happy or unhappy at once? I am very suspicious of this report. Apart from the fact that these reports published by the international financial institutions are very politicized," the expert noted.
The head of the Institute of Management Strategy, Petre Mamradze, in his turn, said that he is not surprised that Georgia is at the bottom of the rating, as the socio-economic situation in the country has been difficult for several years. "Saakashvili has fled Georgia, leaving it alone with debts and a crushed economy. We do not have any independent businessmen, our agriculture is completely destroyed, there is total unemployment in the country," the expert complained, adding that the Georgian Dream coalition was not able to take effective measures to stabilize the situation or attract investments for about 3.5 years.
"Every year there is a huge imbalance of imports and exports in Georgia (about $5 billion), which is significant for a small country. Also, the situation was aggravated by the devaluation of the GEL, though there is a positive trend of its strengthening in the last two weeks," the analyst said. Mamradze noted that the world happiness report reflects the general situation in the country, where 83% of teachers cannot pass examinations to receive admission to work.
"According to well-known economists, Georgia has become a territory where citizens working in other countries send dollars and euros, so they were again exchanged for imported goods," Mamradze concluded.
