Melbourne, Australia — In international rankings, there’s a club of usual suspects that more often than not does really well. Finland and other Nordic nations often come out on top, be it in quality of life, education or health care. On the other side of the world, New Zealand and Australia appear to have become members of that exclusive club, too, while the United States consistently misses out.
When the United Nations released its annual World Happiness Report last year, these usual suspects made it to the top 10 once again. But more surprisingly, they also led in another, less favorable recent statistic: the ratio of citizens affected by mental health disorders.
Other than Americans, Ukrainians and Estonians, citizens of Australia were more likely to develop depression than people living anywhere else in the world. Other strongly affected nations included New Zealand and Nordic states such as Finland and Denmark.