Bulgaria ranks 137 out of 155 countries in a recent Gallup poll, which identified the happiest nations in the world.
The top five countries, which are some of the richest in the world, are all Scandinavian while the bottom 20 are all African except four; Tajikistan, Bulgaria, Haiti and Cambodia.
The study proves that money, in fact, plays a significant role in the overall happiness of people. Based on this point, it is clear why Bulgaria, the poorest country in the EU, is ranked so low in this category.
"Money is an object that many or most people desire, and pursue during the majority of their waking hours," researchers wrote in the report. "It would be surprising if success at this pursuit had no influence whatsoever when people were asked to evaluate their lives."
However, the study showed that income played an important role only for “a particular kind of well-being--the kind one feels when reflecting on his or her own successes and prospects for the future. Day-to-day happiness is more likely to be associated with how well one's psychological and social needs are being met, and that's harder to achieve with a paycheck,'' wrote Forbes Magazine.
Costa Rica is ranked sixth, but it is not a particularly wealth nation, according to the poll. People in Costa Rica seem to put more value on and maintain more stable relationships with friends, which is a key to their daily happiness, the report explains.
Author: sappie, 30 Jul 2010 13:55:30
Bulgaria Among Unhappiest Nations in the World - Gallup Poll
Not surprising at all. Pay a visit to Bulgaria, travel around a litlle bit and it becomes clear why this people is unhappy. Bad housing, bad infrastructure, poverty, pollution, corruption, crime, no future perspective etc.
Author: DP, 30 Jul 2010 14:23:25
Bulgaria Among Unhappiest Nations in the World - Gallup Poll
Oh,c'mon sappie,
Have you been to Bangladesh? Or Afghanistan? Or Somalia? Do you know what real poverty looks like? Or are you a regular Drama Queen? Or are you just a regular Bulgarian whiner?
Author: JKS, 30 Jul 2010 16:07:52
Bulgaria Among Unhappiest Nations in the World - Gallup Poll
"Or are you just a regular Bulgarian whiner?"
I will give a Billism:
a couple of days ago my parents were visiting. We were walking downtown and ran into some friends/kolegi sitting in a cafe kicking it in the middle of a work day (they were on the clock btw).
One of them asked my dad if he liked Bulgaria. He said yes very much. My friends exclaimed well you must not have been here very long then!
As we walked away my dad made the astute observation "these guys are sipping coffee on a beautiful day in a great city in the middle of a work day, and they are miserable? They need to come to the US they would be REALLY miserable.
I explained to him that study after study reveal that Bulgarian are the most unhappy people in the EU. I then explained that if there was an Olympic sport in complaining about your miserable life while sitting at a cafe in a beautiful city in the middle of a work day, Bulgarian would get gold every year.
I will give the business to my pal next time I see them...
Author: NellieotAmerica, 31 Jul 2010 02:38:51
Bulgaria Among Unhappiest Nations in the World - Gallup Poll
JKS
The three-letter alphabet soup dude...
But I digress...
"I explained to him that study after study reveal that Bulgarian are the most unhappy people in the EU."
That's because most people don't think happiness is all that important. Americans take happiness so seriously, that the pursuit of happiness is written into the US constitution. Liberty, blah, blah, blah, and the pursuit of happiness. Americans are required by their constitution to pursue happiness. That is not the case for Bulgarians. In addition, Bulgarians are resigned to not having it all, never having it all.
Author: jingsmaboab, 31 Jul 2010 15:36:21
Bulgaria Among Unhappiest Nations in the World - Gallup Poll
Wow, Nelka. Another amazing outburst of common sense. Keep it up!
As for Bulgarians, they are always bitching. I think deep down it is because most of them are suspicious of their neighbours/friends/spouses/lovers/bosses/colleagues; envious of anybody who looks as though they might have any more money/property/sex/food/friends/whatever than them; oh and they are all worried they will be caught out lying/cheating/lazing around/stealing/bribing/smuggling/avoiding tax/visiting a hooker/whatever other nefarious activity they are up to.
In a nutshell, like anybody else but times TEN! :)
Author: NellieotAmerica, 31 Jul 2010 15:40:54
Bulgaria Among Unhappiest Nations in the World - Gallup Poll
Jings
All the Bulgarian character traits you have listed speak volumes about low self-esteem. Bulgarians still think that there is a free lunch somewhere and the streets in the West are paved with gold. Poor naive delusional bastards! The sooner they understand that they have to roll up their sleeves and work in earnest, the sooner Bulgaria will be sorted out. But don't hold your breath. Human nature doesn't change. lol
Author: jingsmaboab, 31 Jul 2010 16:03:04
Bulgaria Among Unhappiest Nations in the World - Gallup Poll
Also I think it has to be said that even the Bulgarian middle classes don't realise how easy they have it sometimes.
A friend of mine in Sofia, over a few drinks was complaining that his income was way down over the past year. Why? He owns about a dozen properties that he rents, and most of the tenants left. He did not appear to have any strategy for getting in new tenants, but for sure wanted to moan about how unfortunate he was. I think he imagines that because I live in "The West" I have some gold-plated lifestyle compared to his. I mean, he is a Rentier, has never had a job, his parents gave the properties to him, he had to do no work. Now the economy is down a bit, and he bitches like he's a homeless pauper.
Obviously not all Bulgarians live like that, but unless I see a Bulgarian who is clearly living in poverty I take their bitching with about 20 kilos of salt...
Author: NellieotAmerica, 31 Jul 2010 16:22:00
Bulgaria Among Unhappiest Nations in the World - Gallup Poll
"I mean, he is a Rentier, has never had a job, his parents gave the properties to him, he had to do no work. "
This douche is clearly a communist kopele who is spoiled rotten and turned into a homosexual by his Bulgarian communist parents who stole all these properties from the Bulgarian nation back in the day. I despise people like him. Insolent Bulgarian garbage!
Author: jingsmaboab, 31 Jul 2010 16:36:30
Bulgaria Among Unhappiest Nations in the World - Gallup Poll
"This douche is clearly a communist kopele who is spoiled rotten and turned into a homosexual by his Bulgarian communist parents who stole all these properties from the Bulgarian nation back in the day. I despise people like him. Insolent Bulgarian garbage!"
Well he is not gay, and as far as the properties go I believe some were "restituted" to his family, others acquired by his father's property development business in the 1990s/early 2000s. Classic "transition" people, rather like some of the ministers in Borissov's cabinet, in fact. I have no idea if his dad was a Commie, but there's a pretty high probability.
Author: NellieotAmerica, 31 Jul 2010 16:51:52
Bulgaria Among Unhappiest Nations in the World - Gallup Poll
"Classic "transition" people, rather like some of the ministers in Borissov's cabinet, in fact. I have no idea if his dad was a Commie, but there's a pretty high probability."
Classic transition people a.k.a. communist swindlers and crooks. I despise them!!!
Author: DrFaust, 2 Aug 2010 08:18:57
Bulgaria Among Unhappiest Nations in the World - Gallup Poll
"Not surprising at all. Pay a visit to Bulgaria, travel around a litlle bit and it becomes clear why this people is unhappy. Bad housing, bad infrastructure, poverty, pollution, corruption, crime, no future perspective etc."
That's not a sufficient explanation.
There are many countries with even much worse housing, infrastructure, poverty, pollution, crime, no future perspectives. And yet, the people in those places are usually more happy than the Bulgarians.
Author: Rick E., 3 Aug 2010 09:58:20
Bulgaria Among Unhappiest Nations in the World - Gallup Poll
Boab You da man!! Kudos to you and your colorful language. Don't let the pansy commies get away with anything.
Author: A.Nother, 3 Aug 2010 11:37:38
Bulgaria Among Unhappiest Nations in the World - Gallup Poll
The problem with these studies is "how do you measure happines". The only real way is to simply ask the person how happy are they on a scale of 1-10 or something like that. Honestly when I walk around my area here I don't see miserable people. I see people relaxing, relatively unstressed and simply getting on with life (albeit at very slow pace...).
I don't think they are unhappy, however I do believe they are possibly bored/frustrated and being stuck in their position. We all know there's little chance of building a career in BG. Once you have a job, that's it. No promotions or anything. And so when the interviewer asks them "are you happy" they think about that and the US sitcoms and how all those people in the west are "obviously" all smiling, happy and rich and think to themselves "surely I must be unhappy, since I don't have any of that". That's the only explanation I can find.
In short forget all these happiness studies, they just make you unhappy! The best thing I ever read about happiness is that if you are asking yourself if you are happy then you probably aren't. ie the really happy people just get on with life and don't worry about whether they are happy or not.
