Happy Nations #9: Israel

Here is how Israel compares to the United States in each of the six factors for Happiness:

GDP: 1.826 v 1.982
Social Support: 1.221 v 1.182
Healthy Life Expectancy: 0.818 v 0.628
Freedom to Make Life Choices: 0.568 v 0.574
Generosity: 0.155 v 0.220
Perceptions of Corruption: 0.143 v 0.177

Worse generosity and corruption than America. Not a great start, Israel.

Other Scoring Systems

Those are the worst scores yet. How can you be so happy but so terrible?

Honestly, there is no point in considering moving to Israel from America unless you are Jewish or have family there. Since neither applies to me, the rest of this post will be pretty sparse.

Health Care

All Israeli residents are entitled to basic health care as a fundamental right.

Israel ranks #2 in quality of healthcare and #53 in Global Health Security.

Climate

The population of Israel is pretty spread out, with the majority in its capital, Jerusalem.

There are some diverse climates—for example, Eilat averages 15 to 20 degrees higher temperatures than Jerusalem.

Jerusalem has the best weather of any city on the list. The summers are calm and warm, with higher water temperatures than in Sydney. It sounds like a great tourist destination.

Cost of Living

Israel is cheaper to live in than the United States.

When we compare Saint Louis, MO, to Jerusalem, we see that it will cost 6.5% more to live in Jerusalem.

Language

Hebrew is Israel’s official language. However, 85% of Israelis speak English, which their education system encourages.

Acceptance of Others

73% of Israelis want fewer or no migrants, and only 47% of Israel support homosexuality.

Having such a large percentage of people who don’t want immigration is odd, considering that 26% of Israelis are immigrants.

Moving Feasibility

Israel visa information

Conclusion

Israelis are probably happy because they are no longer persecuted from wherever they migrated. However, the country itself does not seem to be progressive or an ideal living location.