How lucky is the lucky country?

From the OECD to the Olympics, we Australians love to hear that we punch above our weight. On education and economic prosperity, public safety and liveability, transparency, democracy, health, coffee – yes, we have our issues, but comparatively, we reckon we do ok.

It may come as a bit of a shock, then, to see how poorly we rate on the Global Flourishing Study (GFS), a five-year project that has recently released its first year of data based on the answers to more than 100 questions, across several domains of well-being, from more than 200,000 people in 22 countries.

Unlike other rankings, topped by Nordic countries like Finland and Sweden, the GFS found that the “happiest” – the most flourishing – country in the world was (drumroll) Indonesia, followed by Mexico, the Philippines, Israel, and Nigeria.

Globally, national flourishing actually decreased slightly as GDP per capita rose. Most high-income countries in the study reported less meaning, less satisfying relationships and communities, and fewer positive emotions than the middle-income countries. Australia came in 19^th out of 22, with only the UK, Turkey, and Japan reporting lower levels of flourishing.

There’s loads to unpack here, but the authors emphasise one striking trend: globally, those attending religious services at least weekly reported higher flourishing than those never attending. They contrast Indonesia, where 75% of the population do so, with Japan, at only 3%, and speculate about how countries can encourage economic growth without sacrificing a connection to the sacred.

This ambitious study raises hard questions about adversity and comfort, purpose and community, anxiety, optimism, pain, hope, mastery, and more. Jesus said that life does not consist in an abundance of possessions; most of us would agree, at least in theory. What it does consist in is a question worth probing with every tool at our disposal.

This Thinking Out Loud was first published on Facebook.