We can be sure of his mental stability. Only a true gifted, nay, divinely inspired general could have led last year’s decisive military victory against some small south Korean hovels in a remote fishing village! DPRK FRVR!!1

turn_self_off: Korea, particularly the mountainous north, has always been prone to irregular and unreliable harvests and exploitative and poor food surplus management by a small, ruling elite. Although the trade blockade cannot be ignored as a factor, there are bigger, older and more internally political reasons why North Korea is prone to food shortages and famines.

How likely is it that that is the only reason for China being #1 on their list is that China is just about the only country in the world that WILL trade with them?

Happiest nations have social services, good schools & health care (U.S. not on list)

Also, happiness is a state of mind and it all depends on your values and percieved reality.

Unlike what the west (americans especially) is trying to doctrinate, consepts of what is `right`, `just` and how things should be constructed are very subjective. There is no correlation between the parameter of misery and external reality.

People 1000 years ago were not any less happy then today, while the reality was far worse than in North Korea in all aspects we consider as important…

So while I am very doubtful as for the validity of the given research, it is quite possible that with given `education` the North Korean are infact on an average, happier than Americans…

I understood what was implied when I read it, but I too was confused by the wording as the way it’s worded is ambiguous and can go either way (without the context of the surrounding sentences).

1. United States

2. North Korea

3. China

Or: 1. United States 2. North Korea 3. China
First Second Third
Leading Follows Follows
In Front> Leading Before/After After
Above Below Below

“Behind China” is a strange choice; “behind” means that North Korea is “following” China, not “followed by” China; that would place China first. So either your post has some underlying jab I’m not getting, or something needs to be changed. I am a very three dimensional reader, I hate that the written flow of English is from left to right. In this case, something can be “behind” as placed in a sentence flowing from the left to the right, but it also means “in front of” literally.

Btw, for all those that bring up the North Korean food shortage again and again. How likely is it that said shortage comes from there being a trade blockade?!

Trade blockade? They don’t have anything to trade. North Korea has been a failed state for decades. The economy of North Korea consists of demanding food from neighboring countries in return for not starting a war.

We could give them most favored nation status for purposes of trade, and you’d still just hear the sound of crickets on the docks.