I uncovered a mystery. One of the big "world happiness index" surveys had the Chinese in top place, as world's happiest community -- but then the Chinese dat...
The truth is that happiness isn’t cut and dry and translates differently between cultures. For Saudi Arabia in particular, if you’re Muslim and you’re a woman you’re most likely happy because of the free education, healthcare, full government funding for any university you want to go to in the world, strong job market that will actually put you into upper management, etc. Not to mention living a lifestyle many people would dream of, completely under the radar. There are reasons why most saudi students that go to the states to study only go for the fancy credential, most have no interest in settling in the US, which is why you don’t see a lot of Saudis despite Saudi Arabia and the US being “friends”. The rub is when it comes to non Saudis and non Muslims, who obviously aren’t happy, but make up a small enough fraction of the population such that the statistics don’t catch it
The truth is that happiness isn’t cut and dry and translates differently between cultures. For Saudi Arabia in particular, if you’re Muslim and you’re a woman you’re most likely happy because of the free education, healthcare, full government funding for any university you want to go to in the world, strong job market that will actually put you into upper management, etc. Not to mention living a lifestyle many people would dream of, completely under the radar. There are reasons why most saudi students that go to the states to study only go for the fancy credential, most have no interest in settling in the US, which is why you don’t see a lot of Saudis despite Saudi Arabia and the US being “friends”. The rub is when it comes to non Saudis and non Muslims, who obviously aren’t happy, but make up a small enough fraction of the population such that the statistics don’t catch it