Existential threats don't diminish Israeli happiness
Although confronted with security threats, unemployment, high cost of living, discrimination against minorities and increased crime, Israelis' warm family and social ties make them feel happy.
Sometimes it seems like life is not so good in Israel. The health system is on the verge of collapse; the school system is experiencing difficulties; and more and more corruption scandals are being uncovered, while organized crime thrives. Along with all the above, the average Israeli has to deal with a high cost of living, skyrocketing housing costs, a jobs crisis in the south or various kinds of discrimination experienced by members of the Ethiopian community.
It is therefore surprising to discover, year after year, that Israel consistently ranks high in international happiness and satisfaction indexes. In 2015, Israel came in a respectable 11th in the United Nations’ World Happiness Report — ahead of the United States (15th), Belgium (19th), Britain (21st), Singapore (24th) — and many other countries to which Israelis tend to compare themselves. This is not a fluke. For example, Israel was ranked sixth in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) 2012 Better Life Index and eighth in the 2013 OECD index category of “life satisfaction.”
The Better Life Index exposes the Israeli paradox, measuring as it does such parameters as quality of the environment, income, housing and cost of living. Israel actually doesn’t score so well in these areas. When one adds the ever-present security threats — the Hamas tunnels in the south, impending confrontation with Hezbollah, the Iranian nuclear program and the Islamic State takeover of Syria — it is unclear why Israelis keep telling people year after year that they are, in fact, happy. Experts, however, are not really surprised.
Professor Gad Yair, head of the department of sociology and anthropology at Tel Aviv University and author of “The Code of Israeliness,” offered a number of explanations for Israeli happiness. He believes that the hard life in neighboring countries emphasizes Israel’s positive aspects. He said, “People see what goes on in Syria, and feel that all in all, our situation here is rather good.”
