National Happiness

How happy are you with your nation?

National Happiness (NHR) is a function that has many inputs related to the well-being of a nation’s people.

It is based on the concept of Gross National Happiness that was developed by the king of Bhutan in the 1970’s.

As shown in the graph (which actually shows 101 – NHR on the x-axis), NHR correlates fairly well with the amount of taxes paid as a percentage of GDP.

Access to health care and higher education are considered basic human rights in happier nations, but not in the US, where they’re available without restrictions only to the rich.

Those are two big reasons why our NHR is not good.

Finland consistently has the best National Happiness rating, so it’s instructive to compare their system to ours.

Health care in the United States is more expensive than in any other developed country, and this is due to a combination of systemic, economic, and policy-related factors.

The cost is actually much worse than it looks. GDP/person in the USA is $86,000, but in Finland it’s only $53,000, so the monetary cost of health care in the USA is (86/53)(16.6/10.3)% = 260% as much as in Finland.

Here’s a breakdown of the main reasons:

💵 1. 

Administrative Costs

• The U.S. spends 2 to 3 times more on health care administration than most other high-income countries.
• Complex billing systems across thousands of insurers drive up costs.
• About 25% of hospital spending goes to administration (vs. ~12% in Canada).

📎 Source: Health Affairs, 2020; JAMA, 2021

💊 2. 

Drug Prices Are Unregulated

• The U.S. does not negotiate drug prices at the national level.
• Pharmaceutical companies can set any price they choose, leading to vastly higher costs than in other countries.
• For example, insulin in the U.S. can cost 10× more than in countries like Finland or Germany.

📎 Source: RAND Corporation, 2021

🏥 3. 

Provider Prices and Salaries

• Doctors, hospitals, and specialists charge more in the U.S. than in peer nations.
• For instance:
  • U.S. physicians earn ~2× more than those in Finland or France.
  • An MRI in the U.S. can cost $1,000+, vs. $100–$300 elsewhere.

📎 Source: OECD Health Data; Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker

🧾 4. 

For-Profit System

• A large portion of the U.S. health care system is privately owned and profit-driven.
• Hospitals, insurers, and pharmaceutical firms prioritize shareholder returns, which increases costs.
• In contrast, countries like Finland run non-profit public systems with tight cost controls.

🚑 5. 

Fragmentation

• The U.S. lacks a unified national health system.
• Care is fragmented across private insurers, employer plans, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.
• This leads to:
  • Duplication of services
  • Gaps in care
  • Poor coordination, all adding to cost and inefficiency.

📉 6. 

Defensive Medicine

• Due to high malpractice risks, doctors often order extra tests and procedures to avoid lawsuits.
• This practice drives up unnecessary utilization and cost.

🏥 7. 

Higher Chronic Disease Burden

• The U.S. population has higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
• These conditions require ongoing treatment and medication, driving sustained demand and higher expenses.

🧮 Bottom Line

🎓 Finland – Higher Education Spending

(ChatGPT)

📊 1. Total Spending on Higher Education (as % of GDP)

• In 2019, total expenditure on higher education (public + government-dependent private) reached 1.5 % of Finland’s GDP  .
  • This matches the OECD average, though it remains slightly below other Nordic countries (e.g., Sweden 1.6 %, Denmark 1.8 %, Norway 1.9 % in 2019)  .

📌 2. Share of Education Budget Devoted to University Level

• In 2021, approximately 19 % of Finland’s total public education expenditure was for university education and research (~€2.5 billion out of €13 billion total education spending)  .

💡 3. Overall Public Education Spending (Including All Levels)

• Total public expenditure on education across all levels was around 5.2 % of GDP in 2021, with 10.2 % of all public spending directed toward education  .

✅ Summary Table

📚 Sources:

• OECD (2023): Higher education expenditure in Finland – 1.5 % of GDP 
• Statistics Finland (2021): University and research spending as part of €13 b education budget 
• Eurostat/Eurydice (2021): 5.2 % of GDP on education 

t’s no surprise that Trump’s favorite autocracies are not happy places, Russia (66, 21% – Putin); China (68, 12% – Xi); Turkey (94, 17% – Erdoğan); North Korea, 100+, 0% (Kim); Egypt, (100+, 6%,el-Sissi).

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