Global Happiness: A Guide to the Most Contented (and Discontented) Places Around the Globe

An authoritative, comprehensive, and highly accessible assessment of the happiest and least happy countries and cities in the world, as well as of the happiest and least happy cities and states in the United States. Which are the happiest countries in the world and which nations are the least contented? Which cities in the world are considered the happiest and unhappiest? Which American cities and states are at the top of the list and which ones rank poorly? Presenting findings that are based on solid data and authoritative information, this book offers a bold take on the geography of happiness around the world—and presents results that are often unexpected. It enables readers to make informed cross-cultural comparisons between countries and world cities, and uniquely synthesizes global information in a way that allows us answer the important question: "What makes us happy?" A book like no other, Global Happiness: A Guide to the Most Contented (and Discontented) Places around the Globe tackles the complex equation of determining what places offer the happiest living experiences by considering quality of life, prospects for the future, social relations, confidence in good government, and many other factors that together constitute critical differences in living experience. The author—a professor of geography and urban studies as well as a world traveler—also takes into account the current events, politics, and environmental situations of specific regions, states, and cities, and considers what residents of the cities and countries say about their own places to derive accurate and fair assessments.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction Chapter 1: The Most and Least Contented Countries The 20 Most Contented Countries Australia Bahamas Botswana Canada Chile Costa Rica Denmark Estonia Japan Netherlands New Zealand Norway Oman Senegal Seychelles Singapore Sweden Switzerland Tunisia Uruguay The 20 Least Contented Countries Afghanistan Cambodia Democratic Republic of the Congo El Salvador Equatorial Guinea France Greece Haiti Honduras Liberia Maldives Mauritania North Korea Russia Saudi Arabia Sudan Syria Turkmenistan Uganda Yemen Chapter 2: The Most and Least Contented World Cities The 20 Most Contented World Cities Accra, Ghana Amsterdam, Netherlands Bangalore, India Barcelona, Spain Bogotá, Colombia Cape Town, South Africa Copenhagen, Denmark Curitiba, Brazil Hamburg, Germany Helsinki, Finland L'viv, Ukraine Melbourne, Australia Montevideo, Uruguay Ottawa, Canada Perth, Australia Tokyo, Japan Valparaiso, Chile Vancouver, Canada Vienna, Austria Zürich, Switzerland The 20 Least Contented World Cities Aleppo, Syria Baghdad, Iraq Beijing, China Cairo, Egypt Caracas, Venezuela Chongqing, China Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Dhaka, Bangladesh Donetsk, Ukraine Dubai, United Arab Emirates Dzerzhinsk, Russia Jakarta, Indonesia Karachi, Pakistan Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo Lagos, Nigeria Marseille, France Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Sochi, Russia Ürümqi, China Venice, Italy Chapter 3: The Most and Least Contented U.S. States and Cities The 5 Most Contented U.S. States Colorado Hawaii Minnesota New Hampshire Oregon The 5 Least Contented U.S. States Arizona Louisiana Mississippi New Jersey Texas The 10 Most Contented U.S. Cities Austin, Texas Boulder, Colorado Burlington, Vermont Charleston, South Carolina Des Moines, Iowa Minneapolis, Minnesota Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Provo, Utah San Francisco, California Seattle, Washington The 10 Least Contented U.S. Cities Atlantic City, New Jersey Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas Camden, New Jersey Detroit, Michigan Flint, Michigan Memphis, Tennessee Niagara Falls, New York Phoenix, Arizona St. Louis, Missouri Stockton, California APPENDIX A: Summaries of Country Rankings Table A1: Human Development Index, 2014 Report, Data for 2013 Table A2: Overall Life Expectancy by Country, 2012 Table A3: Infant Mortality Rate, Estimates for 2013 Table A4: WHO Ranking of Health Systems, 2000 Table A5: Gross Domestic Product (at Purchasing Power Parity) per Capita Table A6: Legatum Prosperity Index, 2014 Table A7: World's Lowest Literacy Rates by Country, 2013 Table A8: Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, 2014 Table A9: Index of Economic Freedom, 2015 Table A10: Democracy Index, 2014 Table A11: World Press Freedom Index, 2014 Table A12: Satisfaction with Life Index, 2006 Table A13: Level of Happiness Index, 2010–2012 Table A14: Best Countries for Business Table A15: Global Competitiveness Index, 2014–2015 Table A16: Sustainable Society Index, 2014 APPENDIX B: Summaries of World Cities Rankings Table B1: Mercer's Quality of Living, City Rankings, 2015 Table B2: EIU Livability Ranking, Best and Worst Cities, 2014 Table B3: Monocle's Quality of Life Survey, Best World Cities, 2014 APPENDIX C: Summaries of U.S. Cities Rankings Table C1: Livability's Top 10 Best Places to Live, Small-Medium-Sized Towns, USA, 2015 Table C2: Livability's Top 10 Best Cities for Families, 2015 Table C3: Livability's Top 10 Best Cities for Retirees, 2014 Table C4: 10 Best Places to Live, 2012 Table C5: Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index by City, 2014 Table C6: America's Greenest Cities, Popular Science, 2008 Table C7: U.S. Cities with the Worst Air Pollution, Health Magazine, 2015 APPENDIX D: Summaries of Rankings of U.S. States Table D1: Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index by State, 2014 Table D2: Ranking of U.S. States by Business Competitiveness, CNBC, 2014 Selected Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, PhD, is professor of geography and urban studies at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. He is the author of ABC-CLIO's Capital Cities of the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture.

Review :
This insightful, enlightening work of urban geography is well-organized and indexed, providing a balanced understanding of the dimensions of happiness, explored in both its positive and negative contexts. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.