Merry Christmas. Thank you to all those who made 2012 such a good year for many Filipinos, including this columnist.

On balance, 2012 has been a very good year for business and for me personally. For that, I have to thank a lot of people and of course, God. Happiness, by the way, is not about money.

The Philippines is ranked eighth happiest country on earth, based on a Gallup 2011 survey which asked 1,000 adult respondents in each of 148 countries (or 148,000 people), questions involving five positive emotions.

The questions are: Did you feel well-rested yesterday? Were you treated with respect all day yesterday? Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday? Did you learn or do something interesting yesterday? Did you experience the following feelings during a lot of the day yesterday? How about enjoyment?

Gallup released the results of its survey Sunday, Dec. 23, in the United States; Monday Dec. 24 in Manila.

The happiest country is Panama tied with Paraguay, both with 85 percent saying yes to the five questions. In third and fourth are El Salvador and Venezuela with identical 84 percent yes. Trinidad and Tobago and Thailand are fifth and sixth, respectively, with identical 83 percent.

Guatemala and the Philippines are seventh and eighth, also with identical 82 percent.

Since the margin of error is 3.4 to 3.9 percentage points and the difference between No. 1 Panama’s 85 percent and No. 8 the Philippines’ 82 percent is three percentage points, you can say the Philippines is the happiest country on earth. You add the 3.4 percentage point margin of error to the Philippines’ 82 and you get 85.4 percent – the same score as Panama’s.

Wealthy city state Singapore topped countries with less than majority (46 percent) saying yes to the five questions. Armenia was next with 49 percent. They were the only two countries with less than 50 percent of respondents saying yes to the five questions.

The saddest countries
The ten saddest countries on earth: Singapore 46 percent, Armenia 49 percent, Iraq 50 percent, Georgia 52 percent, Yemen 52 percent, Serbia 52 percent, Belarus 53 percent, Lithuania 54 percent, Madagascar 54 percent, Afghanistan 55 percent, Azerbaijan 55 percent, Haiti 55 percent, Togo 55 percent, and Macedonia 55 percent.

The average percentage of respondents worldwide who said “yes” to the five questions reflects a relatively upbeat world, the respected pollster notes.

Gallup found that 85 percent of adults worldwide felt treated with respect all day, 72 percent smiled and laughed a lot, 73 percent felt enjoyment a lot of the day, and 72 percent felt well-rested.

The only emotion that less than half of people worldwide reported experiencing was getting to learn or do something interesting the previous day, at 43 percent.

Despite many global challenges, people worldwide are experiencing many positive emotions, says Gallup.

Implications
Gallup says its data may surprise analysts and leaders who solely focus on traditional economic indicators.

Residents of Panama, which ranks 90th in the world with respect to GDP per capita, are among the most likely to report positive emotions. Residents of Singapore, which ranks fifth in the world in terms of GDP per capita, are the least likely to report positive emotions.

The Philippines ranks 121st in nominal per capita income, with $4,120.

Higher income does not necessarily mean higher wellbeing. Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman and Princeton economist Angus Deaton found in the United States that income only makes a significant impact on daily positive emotions when earning up to $75,000 annually — after that, additional income does not make as much of a difference.

Leaders who are looking for ways to further improve the human condition in their countries — especially those societies such as Singapore that are doing well on traditional economic indicators, but not necessarily behavioral metrics — need to do more to incorporate wellbeing into their leadership strategies, says Gallup.

Guns for more guns
Meanwhile, in a survey Dec. 18 following the Dec. 14 Newtown, Connecticut shooting in which 20 school children, aged 6 to 7, were massacred by a single gunman, Gallup found that the most effective way to prevent mass shootings at schools is to have people with guns – namely, the police – at school premises.

Increasing police presence at schools was found effective by 53 percent of respondents. Increased government spending on mental health screening and treatment was mentioned as effective by 50 percent of respondents. Third most effective was decreasing the depiction of gun violence on TV, in movies, and in video games –47 percent.

Banning the sale of assault and semi-automatic guns was found effective by only 34 percent of respondents. It was the No. 4 answer.

Americans miss the point why they have become such a violent country. It is not having more people with more guns, as contended by the National Rifle Association, it is in having fewer guns.

About 88 percent of Americans have guns – the highest gun-to-people ratio in the world.

About 10,000 Americans die yearly from gun-related violence, according to CNN. That’s more than the 4,486 American soldiers who died in the Iraq war and occupation from 2003 to 2012. The 10,000 are about equal to the number of deaths daily in Syria’s current civil war.

Clearly, inside America, there is a civil war. And their politicians are not aware about it.

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