Culture

World Happiness Report: How Nigerians moved from world’s happiest people to angry nation

Published

3 years ago

March 22, 2022

About 10 years ago, Nigerians were ranked some of the happiest people in the world by the World Happiness Report (WHR), which rates countries by their happiness ratio.

In a 2003 survey carried out by the WHR, Nigerians were the 6th happiest people in Africa and the 95th happiest in the world.

The World Values Survey (WVS) of that year also reported that some of the happiest people in the world lived in Nigeria, while three years later, another study reported that Nigeria had beaten more than 65 countries to claim the top spot.

By 2012, a poll conducted by Gallup World Poll, a global research team that tracks human development worldwide, revealed that Nigerians were the world’s most optimistic people with 88 percent of respondents being very optimistic about their future.

Fast forward to 2022, the story has changed drastically as “Nigerians are no longer smiling,” to borrow the street parlance often heard in many Nigerian cities.

The signs are all there: stress, bad economy, high cost of living, bad governance, crime, long faces brought about by years of suffering, which are daily etched on the faces of many Nigerians.

But how did Nigeria go from being the country with the happiest people in the world to a nation full of anger and frustration?

In the latest World Happiness Index report released on March 19, Nigeria fell to a dismal 118 position, below countries like Libya which, surprisingly, is the number one ranked African country on the log.

Countries like South Africa at 91, Gambia, 93, Algeria, 96, Liberia, 97, Congo, 99, Morocco, 100, Mozambique, 101, and Cameroon, 102, have shunted Nigeria down the log as the nation’s long history of being happy has faded with the increasing poverty in the land and the resultant increasing wave of insecurity.

The World Happiness Report, now in its 10th year, is based on people’s own assessment of their happiness, as well as economic and social data. It assigns a happiness score on a scale of zero to 10, based on an average of data over a three-year period.

Only war-torn and traumatized countries like Afghanistan, Venezuela and Lebanon had worse ratings than Nigeria in the 2022 World Happiness Index, which a testament to the fact that Nigerians have become disillusioned with life and are moving day-by-day like automated machines.

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Solutions Network also hinged its happiness index on a lot of factors which, sadly, Nigeria as a country has failed to live up to.

The indicators include GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and corruption, and Nigeria is far removed from these indicators.

The country sure has a long way to meet up with countries like Finland, Denmark and Sweden which are the top three in the happy people rankings in the world.

Here are the best ranked African countries on the World Happiness Index out of 146 surveyed countries on the continent.

Mauritius
Libya
Ivory Coast
South Africa
The Gambia
Algeria
Liberia
The Congo
Morocco
Mozambique

Related Topics:Anger Featured Nigeria World Happiness Index

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Culture

Moroccan doctors stage nationwide protest in ‘Week of Anger’

Published

20 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Moroccan doctors across the country on Tuesday staged a nationwide protests in what is known as “Week of Anger,” accusing the government of ignoring their calls for reform in public healthcare.

In a public announcement on Monday, the Independent Union of Public Sector Doctors (SIMSP) said the strike action would include more walkouts from December 30 to January 5.

The SIMSP said the nationwide strike would affect all public health facilities except emergency and intensive care units to ensure that some level of care remained available.

“During this time, doctors will not be at diagnostic centres and they will also boycott administrative tasks and refuse to issue medical certificates,” the SIMSP said.

The union added that a large march is planned for December 29 in Rabat, aimed at opposing laws on strikes and pensions.

The doctors’ union noted that their demands have been ignored by the Ministry of Health.

The union stated that their requests to government has remained unanswered. It also criticized a new framework for doctors, calling it scandalous as it threatens job security and opens the door to unfair dismissals.

The doctors’ demands include extra grades for doctors beyond the current scale, higher salaries, and an end to limits on promotions.

The union also wants the government to honour agreements made in 2011, 2023, and 2024.

According to the union, the doctors are also upset with the 2025 budget plan, which they say fails to address the health sector’s funding issues, expressing concerned about plans to shift salaries from central budgets to local health groups and warning that this could lead to instability.

The union added that doctors will continue to boycott school health programmes and what they call “improvised” surgical campaigns. They insist on maintaining high medical standards while pushing for change.

Culture

Ghana’s Afua Asantewaa begins second GWR sing-a-thon attempt

Published

4 days ago

December 22, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Ghanaian singer, Afua Asantewaa, on Saturday, began her second attempt at breaking the Guinness World Record (GWR) for the longest singing marathon by an individual.

The sing-a-thon which began in the early hours of Saturday, December 21, at Heroes’ Park, Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi, will run until December 25, and will see the determined songstress perform non-stop, focusing exclusively on Ghanaian songs.

According to Asantewaa’s manager, Madam Gladys Osei Owiredu, the audacious initiative is aimed at showcasing the rich cultural heritage of Ghanaian music to a global audience.

Owiredu confirmed that preparations for the event had been extensive but expressed confidence in Asantewaa’s readiness to finally break the record.

“I can confirm that she is ready for the task ahead. It’s been challenging—by way of preparations—but I can say she is ready,” Owiredu said.

Asantewaa’s second attempt follows her first effort in December 2023, which fell short of surpassing the current record of 105 hours held by India’s Sunil Waghmare.

But despite the setback, her team remains optimistic about breaking the record this time with corporate sponsors including International Maritime Hospital, Ghana Gas, Nasco Electronics, and Zoomlion Ghana Limited rallying behind her, underscoring the importance of the attempt in amplifying the global significance of Ghanaian music.