World Happiness: Why does the US keep dropping?
As an American who spent some time working in Europe, I have my own take on why the US is slipping in the 2024 World Happiness rankings.
I lived in Germany, which is considered to be a generous welfare state. I interacted with the medical system on several occasions, and suppressed the intense desire to laugh hysterically when no one knew how to bill me for their services.
True story: I once went to the German ER for a gnarly-looking bug bite and to this day, I have never received a bill. They just shrugged and sent me on my way.
For the record, I also gave birth in Germany. I eventually did get a bill, but it was mostly for the cost of a room (because it’s standard to keep you in the hospital for about three days) for both my husband and I to stay in, which was like a small hotel bill.
Then there’s the issue of maternity leave. Had I been a German citizen, I would have been permitted to leave my job up to six weeks before my due date and stay home for up to fourteen weeks at almost 70% of my normal pay. My workplace would have been required to hold my position for me during that time.
Since I was a contractor, not even FMLA applied to me. There was no maternity leave.
Ten days after giving birth, which was the remainder of my vacation time, my contracting company called to ask if I would be reporting to work the following day. When I said no, they cheerfully told me that I had been an excellent employee and I was welcome to reapply when I was ready to come back to work.
I was fired for a normal life event.
And I needed to work because I had roughly $200,000 in student loan debt. (Another thing that a typical German citizen would never have to deal with.)
Now that I am living in the states again, I realize the freedom in that kind of access to healthcare and education. Free and easily accessible healthcare allows people to make choices independent of their current employment. It eases the worry that an accident or illness will wipe out hard-earned savings. Low or absent education costs ensure that workers are highly trained and highly motivated by something intrinsic (unlike the horrible extrinsic motivation of debt).
So, I feel fairly strongly about these things as you might imagine.
After the World Happiness report came out in late March, I was inspired to look at the findings vis a vis my own experience in both the US and in a more generous European state.
Nordic countries came out on top yet again.
Of course, everyone wants to know why these countries are so dang good at keeping their citizens happy. There are a lot of theories on this, and a many of them point to what I experienced while living in Germany. The World Happiness people took a deep dive and found out that generous benefits were only a portion of the overall happiness.
The biggest take aways that I got out of the reports, are as follows:
1. There are low levels of corruption leading to higher trust in government institutions
2. Maximized participation of citizens which keeps government accountable
3. Not just high spending on social benefits, but effective spending on social benefits.
4. Community, trust, and social cohesion are valued
5. A trustworthy government that builds a sense of community among its citizens.
It is uncanny to me just how many of these things have to do with not having a crappy government.
And this brings me to the financial independence community.
I have a theory that the American FIRE movement is the “rugged individualist” answer to Nordic-level happiness.
Let me explain.
While the Scandinavians have a “virtuous cycle” of trust in their government systems and vice versa, in the land of the free and home of the brave, we do not. In fact, according to Pew research, American trust in our government is at an all-time low. This means as Americans, we have access to only one of the five aforementioned things that drive Nordic happiness: Effective spending on benefits.
Since our own “safety net” (social security) is unlikely to be there for us in the future, people in the FIRE movement have decided to “tax” themselves up front. Instead of paying into a generous, effective and trustworthy state that will cover healthcare, college, and retirement, FIRE adherents pay themselves. They save and invest the largest percentage of their income possible to make up for the deficiencies of an ineffective, inefficient, and somewhat corrupt system.
After lurking in the FIRE blogs for over a decade, I finally went to an in-person event (Econome) and I realized what a trusting and supportive community existed there. There is an emphasis on living a fulfilling life alongside becoming financially independent. The community itself works together to find answers to difficult questions, and creates cohesion and trust within the group.
Although reaching financial independence is a great goal, it isn’t the answer to everything. But it is one avenue to gaining personal control over something Social Democracies bake into their culture. For now, the US is far from implementing basics like universal health care or livable retirement system (that won’t run out of funding).
Increasingly, younger generations are saddled with high student loan debt and housing costs far exceeding the typically recommended 30% of their budget. People are choosing to forgo parenthood because they can’t see a way to afford it. There is a certain level of fatalism being expressed as this generation wonders how to find a living wage. Perhaps these are some of the reasons the US has shown a decrease in happiness for 15-24 year olds in the World Happiness reports.
Without a French-style revolution, how can we make a better system for everyone?
Since the federal government is unlikely to lead the charge, and nobody trusts them to do it anyway, that leaves us to come up with solutions. I’m not really sure exactly what that looks like, but I have a suspicion that whatever it is would be a community thing.
Take the Financial Independence community, for example. I met so many talented people at one event, I couldn’t help but think that many of us, released from the requirement to work a W-2 job, could change the world. If you don’t need to make money, perhaps you could take a low-paying but high impact position in local government. Or work for a non-profit. Or write a rambling blog post about happiness.
Of course, this won’t result in universal preschool or healthcare overnight. But maybe it could boost our collective sense of community and happiness, who knows?
Just like many Scandinavian cultures, when survival isn’t top of mind, people are free to engage in the real stuff of life. They are free to engage in community. They are available to serve each other with their strengths. They are better able to keep the government accountable. And ultimately, they have higher levels of happiness.
And while world-happiness-chart-topping changes may never happen full-scale in the US, I’m hopeful. Sometimes people, and systems, for that matter, don’t change until it’s too difficult to remain the same. If people are unhappy, we might reach a tipping point where we truly have to decide what matters most.
