From my friend Brad Goverman over at the Jew News Review:
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But even better news on the Israel front came in this year’s World Happiness report. The report bases its subjective analysis on what they call “Life evaluations”. The Gallup World Poll, which remains the principal source of data in this report, asks respondents to evaluate their current life as a whole using the image of a ladder, with the best possible life for them as a 10 and worst possible as a 0.
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Each respondent provides a numerical response on this scale, referred to as the Cantril ladder. Typically, around 1,000 responses are gathered annually for each country.
This year, Israelis completed the survey in January, post October 7, three months into the Gaza war and after a brutal year of division over the judicial reform proposals. Guess where Israel landed: Fifth! Behind four Nordic countries! The US dropped several slots to 23rd.
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Some analysts believe Israel scores so high for a number of factors, including having one of the premier health plans in the world, and a strong sense of community across the small nation.
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Or as Israeli journalist and parent Haviv Rettig Gur put it, ““It is me knowing that in my street, every neighbor I have, the ones I like, the ones I'm arguing with about parking spaces, is going to run into fire for my kids. And therefore, I know that I will run into fire for their kids. It is that firm knowledge which is true across Israeli society.”