Happiness is on the rise in some countries

A group of social scientists calling itself the World Values Survey has been conducting tests of the world's happiness since post WWII days. They ask two simple questions:

"Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, not at all happy?"

"All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?"

Their conclusion is that people in 19 0f 26 countries for which they have many years of data are, in fact, happier today. These 19 countries are India, Ireland, Mexico, Puerto Rico (I thought it was part of the U.S.), South Korea, Argentina, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Spain and Sweden. In the U.S., Switzerland and Norway happiness is about the same. But in Austria, Belgium, the U.K. and West Germany people are less happy today.

They have developed what they call a cultural map of the world that purports to categorize the peoples of the world on two axes - religion and the transition to the post-industrial world. It's interesting but is it really relevant?