1. 丹麦(Denmark) - 4.24

2. 波多黎各(PuertoRico) - 4.21

3.哥伦比亚(Colombia) - 4.18

4. 冰岛(Iceland)- 4.15

5. 北爱尔兰(NIreland) - 4.13

6.爱尔兰(Ireland)- 4.12

7.瑞士(Switzerland)- 3.96

8.荷兰(Netherlands)- 3.77

9. 加拿大(Canada)- 3.76

10.奥地利(Austria) - 3.68

……

16. 美国(U.S.A)- 3.55

……

43. 日本(Japan)- 2.24

……

48. 台湾(Taiwan)- 1.83

49.德国(Germany)- 1.78

……

54. 中国(China)- 1.64

……

63.香港(Hongkong) - 1.16

……

97.津巴布韦(Zimbabwe) - 1.92

People in most countries around the world are happier these days,according to newly released data from the World Values Survey basedat the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research。

密歇根大学社会研究所世界价值观调查项目的最新数据表明，世界上大多数国家的人近来都感觉比从前更幸福。

Data fromrepresentative national surveys conducted from 1981 to 2007 showthe happiness index rose in an overwhelming majority of nationsstudied。

自1981年至2007年，在国家范围内进行的各种有代表性的相关调查也显示出绝大多数目标调查国的国民幸福指数都有所提高。

It's asurprising finding, said U-M political scientist Ronald Inglehart,who directs the World Values Surveys and is the lead author of anarticle on the topic to be published in the July 2008 issue of thejournal Perspectives on Psychological Science. It'swidely believed that it's almost impossible to raise an entirecountry's happiness level.

“这是个令人惊讶的发现，人们普遍认为要提高一个国家的国民幸福水平几乎是不可能的。”世界价值观调查项目的主持者、密歇根大学政治学家罗纳德·英格哈特说——他还是在《心理学探新》杂志上的一篇相关文章的第一作者。

The 2007 waveof the surveys also provides a ranking of 97 nations containing 90percent of the world's population. The results indicate thatDenmark is the happpiest nation inthe world.

2007年的社会调查浪潮还提供了一份包含97个国家的国民幸福水平排名，这些国家的人口占世界人口的90%。排名结果显示，丹麦是世界上最幸福的国家。

During the past 26 years, the World Values Surveys have asked morethan 350,000 people how happy they are, using the same twoquestions。

在过去的26年里，世界价值观调查项目用下面这两个问题来调查人们的幸福程度(他们一共询问过35万多人)：

Taking allthings together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy,not very happy, not at all happy? And, All things considered, howsatisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?

“总体来说，你认为你的生活很幸福、幸福、不怎么幸福，还是一点儿也不幸福？”以及“总体来说，你对你近期的生活是否满意？”

Combiningresponses to these two questions, Inglehart and colleaguesconstructed an index of subjective well-being that reflects bothhappiness and general life satisfaction。

英格哈特和他的同事们将人们对这两个问题的回答综合起来，建立起一套能够反映幸福程度和对整体生活满意度的主观幸福指数。

In the 52countries for which a substantial time series is available(covering 17 years on average)， this index rose in 40 countries andfell in only 12. The average percentage of people who said theywere very happy increased by almost seven points。

在52个国家进行的持续性调查(平均为17年)中，这个指数在40个国家中有所增长，只在12个国家中显示出下降。认为自己“很幸福”的人平均增加了近7个百分点。

Most earlierresearch has suggested that happiness levels are stable, Inglehartsaid. Important events like winning the lottery or learning youhave cancer can lead to short-term changes, but in the long runmost previous research suggests that people and nations are stuckon a 'hedonic treadmill.' The belief has been that no matter whathappens or what we do, basic happiness levels are stable and don'treally change.

“以前的大多数调查都表明人们的幸福水平是比较稳定的，”英格哈特说，“中彩票或是得知自己身患癌症这样的重大事件可能会给人的幸福感带来短时间的改变，但之前的大多数相关调查都表明，从长远来看，无论个人还是民族都会陷在“快乐水车”的现象中。人们一直认为，无论我们遇到什么事情，基本的幸福水平是相当稳定的，并不会发生真正的改变。”

The newfindings from the World Values Surveys not only show that duringthe past 25 years, happiness has in fact risen substantially inmost countries. Fully as important as the fact that happiness roseis the reason why. In recent decades, some countries with a largepopulation, such as India and China, have experienced unprecedentedrates of economic growth, and there has been a sharp rise of genderequality and social harmony。

世界价值观调查项目的新发现不仅表明在过去的25年中，大多数国家的人实际上都比从前幸福了许多；与幸福水平提高这一现象同样重要的是：为什么会这样？在近几十年中，一些像印度和中国这样人口众多的国家经历了前所未有的快速经济增长，同样两性平等问题也有较大改观，社会呈现和谐的局面。

Economicgrowth and rising social harmony have allcontributed to rising happiness, with the later having even moreimpact than economic growth. All of these changes have contributedto providing people with a wider range of choice in how to livetheir lives--which is a key factor in happiness。

经济增长及社会和谐度提高都会提高国民幸福水平，而后者的影响更甚于前者。所有这些变化都为人们提供了更为广泛的选择，让他们能够过上自己想要的生活——这对幸福至关重要。

The resultsclearly show that the happiest societies are those that allowpeople the freedom to choose how to live their lives, Inglehartsaid。

“调查结果明确显示，人们在那些能够自由选择生活方式的社会中感到最愉悦。”英格哈特说。

As an example,Inglehart points to the tolerant social norms systems in Denmark,Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Canada all of which rankamong the 10 happiest countries in the world。

英格哈特列举了丹麦、冰岛、瑞士、荷兰和加拿大等国宽容的社会规范作为例子，这些国家都位列最幸福国家的前十名。

The events ofthe past 25 years have brought a growing sense of freedom thatseems to be even more important than economic development incontributing to rising happiness, Inglehart said. Moreover, themost effective way to maximize happiness seems to change withrising levels of economic development. In subsistence-levelsocieties, happiness is closely linked with in-group solidarity andnational pride. At higher levels of economic security, free choicehas the largest impact on happiness.

“过去25年中发生的一切让人们对自由愈发重视，在幸福水平的提高过程中，自由似乎发挥了比经济增长更重要的作用。”英格哈特说，“此外，最大程度地提高国民幸福水平的最有效途径似乎也在随着经济的发展而改变。在仅能维持生存基准的社会中，幸福水平与群体团结和国家荣誉紧密相关。在经济安全程度较高的社会中，自由选择的权利对人们快乐与否影响最大。”

Comparing World Values Survey data from 1981 to 2007 with earlierdata from 1946 from the World Database of Happiness, Inglehart andcolleagues found that 19 of 24 countries show rising happiness andseveral counties--India, Ireland, Mexico, Pueto Rico and SouthKorea--show steeply rising trends。

英格哈特和他的同事们将1981年至2007年世界价值观调查项目取得的数据与世界幸福水平数据库中1946年以来的调查数据进行了比较，发现被比较的24个国家中有19个显示出幸福水平提高，有几个国家——印度、爱尔兰、墨西哥、波多黎各和韩国——呈现出幸福水平显著提高的趋势。