You wouldn't know it from their gloomy musical tastes, but the United Nations' annual report on happiness has declared Norway the happiest place on earth, beating out even those famously contented Danes.
 
We're talking about a place that's lethally cold and pitch dark for half the year, and doesn't even have a single Disney theme park. They pay higher taxes than Americans and make less money per capita (rumor has it they're even infested with trolls), yet they rank 14 slots higher up on the happiness scale than us Yanks. 

Ken (Zargg) seems happiest when he has beer, becan and cigs.
 
That's all he needs.
 
Well, and studio time.
 
So, beer, becan, cigs and studio time. That's all he needs.

Norway!!! 

Yaway

 

bitflipper
 They pay higher taxes than Americans and make less money per capita (rumor has it they're even infested with trolls), yet they rank 14 slots higher up on the happiness scale than us Yanks. 

Obviously, paying taxes makes you happy. 
 
Well, it's really about the redistribution of wealth and a well-funded welfare state, but let's not get in to that.

I'm inclined to stop reading after the phrase "United Nations Annual Report On Happiness." 
 
It's really just a report on which countries adhere most strictly to the United Nation's idea of what a "happy" country should look like. Not an objective measure of how happy the people in those countries actually are. 
 
For example, Scandinavian countries frequently score highly on those lists, but they also have some of the highest rates of antidepressant use in the Western hemisphere. 
 
And while this isn't exactly scientific, I've known a lot of Norwegians. There are quite a few of them in Newcastle and I had Norwegian friends back when I lived there. While I wouldn't exactly call them "depressed," I wouldn't call them happy either. They were all extremely cynical, had a very dark/bleak sense of humor and drank like fish. Hey wait a minute though.....maybe they're onto something there.....
 
It reminds me of an article I read in the Guardian a few years ago about the myth of Scandinavian happiness. It describes Norwegians as "insular and xenophobic," qualities I'm not sure the UN would be happy about adding to their "happiness" metric. 

Trolls.
 
they have Trolls.
 

batsbrew
Trolls.
 
they have Trolls.
 

Just like the Coffee House sometimes. 

What Sharke said.
 
I'm sure there are happy Norwegians, but no more than anywhere else. People who have visited larger cities like Oslo comment on how rude everyone is. Everything is ungodly expensive. Some food items are either hard to get or of low quality. If you or I wanted to go there to live you need a huge net worth for them to even look at letting you in. Anyone not born there is a second class citizen in status, jobs and pay. 
 
This is Oslo I'm talking about. I'm not sure how it is in other areas. Maybe  country people are friendlier. Drugs are a serious problem. Diseases are right up there with the rest of the industrialized world.
 
One interesting thing I found out. According to what I've read  crime is lower. If you commit a homicide they banish you off to an island. Not really like a jail or prison....of course crime would be lower if it's -40 outside. They only have half the time to commit the crime :)