America's happiness decline... what it means, and the happiest countries on earth

Summary

Podcast Summary: Real Estate Without Borders Episode: America's Happiness Decline... What It Means, and the Happiest Countries on Earth
Release Date: March 26, 2025

---

Overview

In this insightful episode of "Real Estate Without Borders," hosts delve deep into the findings of the World Happiness Report, exploring its implications for American investors interested in international real estate. The discussion navigates through the surprising rankings of various countries, with a particular focus on Canada's significant drop in happiness standings. The hosts connect these insights to economic indicators like GDP per capita and consumer sentiment, offering a comprehensive analysis of how national well-being influences real estate investment opportunities abroad.

---

Key Discussions

1. The World Happiness Report Unveiled

The episode kicks off with an introduction to the World Happiness Report, a comprehensive 276-page document assessing global happiness levels.
[00:01] B: "World Happiness Report. This is going to be a good one. I think you're probably not going to expect where a lot of these countries, cities landed in this report."

2. Canada’s Decline in Happiness Rankings

A significant portion of the conversation centers on Canada's drop from the 5th happiest country to the 18th position over the past decade.
[07:05] A: "Canada slipped from 18th place to 18th place from 15th place last year and in 2015."

The hosts discuss the factors contributing to this decline, including stagnant GDP per capita and increased perceptions of economic instability.
[19:45] A: "Especially if you're experiencing inflation at the same time... most Canadians feel worse off than they were before."

3. GDP Per Capita and Economic Health

A detailed explanation of GDP per capita illustrates its importance as a measure of a country's economic health and standard of living.
[12:05] A: "With GDP per capita as a way to measure how economic activity... it's a snapshot of the country's economic health per person."

The hosts use an analogy of a pie to explain how GDP per capita can decline even if the overall GDP grows, impacting individual well-being.
[13:22] A: "You've got 10 slices... now you've got 12 guests... everyone’s gotta chip in a little bit."

4. Consumer Sentiment’s Impact on Real Estate

Emphasizing the critical role of consumer sentiment in the real estate market, the hosts highlight how feelings about the economy can drive investment decisions.
[04:26] B: "I genuinely think a humongous part of the real estate market is backed and based off of consumer sentiment."

5. Surprising Rankings: Costa Rica and Mexico on the Rise

The hosts express surprise at countries like Costa Rica and Mexico climbing the happiness rankings significantly.
[08:25] A: "Costa Rica has gone from basically in 2022, 23rd place to 6th place on Earth."

They explore the reasons behind these jumps, such as strong social systems, universal healthcare, and healthy life expectancy.
[09:42] B: "I think most of it says strong social systems, countries, emphasis on universal health care."

6. Political Divides and Population Policies

A substantial segment discusses how political polarization and demographic challenges impact national happiness and economic stability.
[28:16] A: "The challenge that I think we are facing with, like, with democracy is it's become so divided because the politicians aren't making an effort to unify the population around a clear message."

The conversation touches on the necessity of population growth to sustain pension systems and economic productivity, advocating for immigration as a solution.
[29:40] B: "Yeah, no, that's pretty bad, to tell you the truth."

---

Insights and Conclusions

• Economic Indicators as Happiness Drivers: The decline in GDP per capita in countries like Canada correlates strongly with reduced happiness levels, underscoring the importance of economic health in national well-being.

• Consumer Sentiment Influences Real Estate: Investors should pay close attention to consumer sentiment, as it can significantly affect real estate markets, especially for first-time buyers and new investors.

• Emerging Markets Offer Opportunities: Countries rising in happiness rankings, such as Costa Rica and Mexico, present potential investment opportunities due to their improving social systems and quality of life.

• Political Stability and Population Policies Matter: Political divides and effective population policies are crucial for maintaining economic stability and happiness. Transparent and honest communication from governments can mitigate feelings of dystopia and economic frustration among citizens.

• Relative Well-Being Over Absolute Wealth: Happiness is influenced more by relative economic standing and social support than by absolute wealth, suggesting that investments in countries with strong community support systems may yield better returns in terms of resident satisfaction and stability.

---

Notable Quotes

• On the World Happiness Report:
  B [00:01]: "World Happiness Report. This is going to be a good one. I think you're probably not going to expect where a lot of these countries, cities landed in this report."

• On Canada’s Happiness Decline:
  A [07:05]: "Canada slipped from 18th place to 18th place from 15th place last year and in 2015."

• On GDP Per Capita:
  B [12:10]: "GDP per capita... it's like a snapshot of the country's economic health per person."

• On Consumer Sentiment:
  B [04:26]: "I genuinely think a humongous part of the real estate market is backed and based off of consumer sentiment."

• On Political Divides:
  A [28:16]: "The politicians aren't making an effort to unify the population around a clear message."

---

Final Thoughts

This episode of "Real Estate Without Borders" adeptly connects global happiness trends with real estate investment strategies, providing listeners with a nuanced understanding of how economic and social factors interplay on the international stage. By highlighting the unexpected shifts in happiness rankings and dissecting the underlying causes, the hosts offer valuable perspectives for investors looking to diversify their portfolios across borders.

Listeners are encouraged to consider both economic indicators and consumer sentiment when evaluating potential international markets, as these elements are pivotal in determining the long-term viability and satisfaction within real estate investments.

---

For more episodes and insights on international real estate opportunities, visit Real Estate Without Borders.

Transcript

[A]

What are we talking about today?

[B]

World Happiness Report. This is, this is going to be a good one. I think you're probably not going to expect where a lot of these countries, cities landed in this report. It's not a short report either. Let me put that out there for you guys that understand. You're welcome for going through this 276 page report just to truly find out how happy people are around the world and obviously tie that back into maybe that's a good spot to invest as an American investor.

[A]

Yeah, I mean at the very least it says something about, you know, what countries are doing, let's call it like, right. The thing that I've found interesting about the whole report from the start and I've been following this report for a long time, especially where Canada ranks on it, obviously being a Canadian. But a lot of these places are, you know, like. And you'll see the Economist does a similar one called the Global Livability Index. Right. The most livable cities. But the challenge is all of the places that rank really high, nobody can afford them. So it's like, okay, you know, it's kind of like, yeah, sure, it is like a very livable city, but if you're like a millionaire and you can afford to live there, right. And a lot of people can't do that. Like a lot of the people, at least, you know, people that I've discussed who want to buy real estate abroad are doing it not because they're super rich. Like I would say that's a segment of our audience, right? But then there's the segment of our audience that is also people who are saying I'm never going to be super rich unless I get a relative advantage by moving to another country. And for a lot of people who are remote workers, right, they're like, oh, I'm going to move to, you know, Colombia or Portugal or whatever, live a, have a higher quality of life, have a relative higher buying power and not watch my, you know, the country that I live in, Canada, the US or you know, whatever, the uk, erode away the value of my currency and my buying power. And so that to me, that, that to me is like, is an important segment of the audience.

[B]

I think one, one line I've heard you say quite a bit lately that I've picked up on Timmy's what I would do, I would do disgusting things to have a cup of Tim Hortons. Is it a double? Double, yeah.

[A]

Coffee and a dart. Coffee and a dart, all in one. Is there any other way to get.

[B]

A Tim's he's got the flannel on, too. Same, just not red. This is incredible.

[A]

Yeah, I, like, I went to California for a month, and then I come back and I'm like, I just have to do the, like, dress like a lumberjack and drink a Tim H. First.

[B]

Thing I do, day one, wake up Tim Hortons. Double, double. And maybe a crisp Boston cream donut.

[A]

You know, this is, you know, like, when. When, like, people go scuba diving and they have to, like, decompress. Like, they have to, like, re. Chamber. That's. This is me rechambering to Canada right now.

[B]

It's like maple syrup for sure.

[A]

No, I used it to wash my hair this morning.

[B]

All right, sorry, sorry. One, one, one line that you kept saying this week as I listen, I'm a big fan. So I tuned into all your stuff to support my. My good friend consumer sentiment and. And maybe how that would tie into, you know, these markets and the World Happiness Report.

[A]

Yeah, no, it's a good point. So we'll talk. We'll. We'll definitely talk about that because a lot of it is, like, how is the economy doing? But then a lot of it is also, like, how does society feel? How do people feel? Like, do they feel connected to one another? And I've been talking to, like, my. My. My Instagram comment threads has basically become, like, it's like Reddit colliding with, like, Twitter. Like, you know what I mean? It's like the left and right just like. I don't know. It's fun, to be honest. I find it. I really enjoy it.

[B]

Just had a day yesterday. I woke up and I said, fosh chose violence today.

[A]

For sure. Yeah. But so people. You know, I get a lot of people who respect, like, what I've been trying to do, which is just tell the truth the whole time. And they'll say, oh, like, have you noticed, like, people are getting, like, increasingly inflammatory? And I'm like, yeah, I think what's happening in Canada, and you saw this in the US Last year, was, is. Is people become more and more selfish because the economy isn't serving them anymore. And so they're. They can't think of, like, everyone's just trying to make ends meet. Right. And so they can't think economically beyond the self. Right. And. And so you inherently become selfish. And then their political rhetoric really ramps up, like, they can't see the other side's point of view. And, you know, and it just really fascinated me. So I think that that's, like, in regards to Consumer sentiment and how the economy is eroding. That's one of those things that really, like I would say Canada feels really fricking angry right now. Not, not happy. Right?

[B]

Yeah. I think one thing that people probably undervalue or underestimate is the power of consumer sentiment. Like, I genuinely think a humongous part of the real estate market is backed and based off of consumer sentiment and like how people feel. You know, especially like first time home buyers or newer buyers or new investors, it's like they're less focused on the numbers and the product and significantly more focused on consumer sentiment. And, and they're basing this, is this off of how they feel? Which is crazy, but it has a humongous impact that I think a lot of people actually underestimate. And you're right, Canada is in a. There's a lot of arguing. Look, I think that the. We've, we've gone so far. This is whatever. We've gone so far left and right that like the middle is where we need to be.

[A]

Well, and I would, I would say probably that like 80% of voters do exist in the middle. And then there's like the 10% on either side. That's super loud. Right? So it sounds like, you know, the whole population is cut. But like the reality is like the 80% of people who, you know, or even, even if you say like 40 of them are, you know, center left and 40 of them are center right, they're just sitting there like, I don't want to participate in this. Like, I want, I want to have a normal dialogue about, you know, like, I don't want to. I don't. And so they just, and they're, they probably just have better things to do, frankly, than argue with one another on, on Instagram, on Dan's Instagram comments about, about politics. Right. So for sure, I, I think that that's, that's another piece of the puzzle as well. I would say most people, I, I think most people are pretty politically centrist. Right. Like, you kind of get the pendulum swinging back and forth and most people like, do end up probably in the middle. Okay, so let's start with Canada in regards to what kind of prompted this report. Because Canada and the U.S. both have seen huge drops in their. A World Happiness Report ranks as, as happiest countries. And Canada and the U.S. both ranked among the largest losers. So this is an article from CBC. Canada slipped from 18th place to 18th place from 15th place last year and in 2015. So savage of them to always use 2015, because that's the year Trudeau got elected. Like, but Anyway, Canada was fifth in the world. So. So basically, in the last 10 years, we've dropped from the fifth happiest country on Earth to the 18th happiest country on Earth. Look, top 20 is still good. I'm not knocking that. But it's not fifth. Right, Right.

[B]

I was thinking we should, because I didn't know this, we should cover who's on this list and why they're on this list. Because I didn't know. It's like, what is it, the third. I have it. The OECD has 38 countries. Right. Which is basically the top wealthiest countries. And what does OECD even mean? So this is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It's basically an international organization that works to promote economic growth through, like, member countries established in December 14, 1960. That's. That's the, that's what we're measuring here. Because I didn't know that, to be honest. I'm like, who. Who are we measuring this against? Right, but that's, that's how. Sorry.

[A]

Yeah, so. And, and the reason why you always hear OECD in data is like, is because the OECD is, is this group of people who are putting, like, who are collaborating and, and all submitting comparable data points. So, like, they'll say, you know, they'll, they'll all gather. They'll all agree, okay, this is a set of important information numbers that we need to gather from our economy. Here's what we're gonna. Or we. Let's all agree, and we're all going to submit it to this big pool of data. And that's. OECD is kind of the aggregator for that. So, so this is. Okay, let's. Because this is a country that we've, like, look at the, look at this, the ramp up here from number six, Costa Rica. Look at that. Can you see that on the screen? Share?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like, Costa Rica has gone from basically in 2022, 23rd place to 6th place on, on Earth. And then there's another one with a big. Another couple big gap ups here. Mexico, Dave. Mexico wasn't even on the list. 25th in 2023, won't even show me because I. It's off the charts, literally off the charts in 2022. So in two years, Mexico has gone from being off the charts in a bad way at the bottom of the chart, and then to 2020 to 25th in 2023, two years ago, to 10th place. Okay, winner's Buddy, you. And it's all because. It's all because Dave Hutch moved to Mexico. And his smile is so contagious that all of the Mexican population has just improved their. Their quality of life.

[B]

Even the locals are like, we like this guy, man. Just a happy guy. I'm going to find out why Costa Rica jumps so high. I'm doing some research on this, as we see.

[A]

Well, yeah, let's look in. Let's look through the report. Let's get into it. So if I go to. Go to this tab here. So this is your World Happiness report, evaluations from 2023. Costa Rica was in 23rd in 2023 here. Yeah. And they just jumped up to six.

[B]

I think most of it says strong social systems, countries, emphasis on universal health care.

[A]

So here's the factors in this chart. This is the chart from 2023. So it says dystopia plus residual. We're gonna have to look that one up because it just seems like it's kind of. Gonna be kind of hard. Like, dystopia is like a, you know, like the giver. Right? Like, you've seen that. You read that book in high school, the Giver, where the guy gives the.

[B]

Guy the Harry Potter in high school.

[A]

Dave's like. I joke. Yeah, it's. Oh, no, that was curriculum, I think, in Canada. Anyway, dystopia is like this, like, you know, like when you're living in, like, some, like. Like unimaginable like, weird future, like, that's, you know, that's bad. Right? Like, 1984 would be a dystopia. Okay, so, yeah.

[B]

Imagined or real society, where conditions are. Oh, wait.

[A]

Perceptions of corruption. Yeah. Yeah. Define dystopia for our audience, because I tried, but I did a pretty bad job.

[B]

I think you nailed it. What is it? Let's say dystopia versus what?

[A]

Residual? I don't know. We'll have to go through the report to figure it out. But perceptions of corruption. That one's obvious. Generosity, obvious. Freedom to make life choices. Pretty important stuff, I'm gonna say. I would say that's. That's. That's up there. Healthy life expectancy. Costa Rica crushes it on that. They have a blue zone. We should do an episode on blue zones, actually, at some point. You know, blue zones, Right, of course.

[B]

Well, I watched.

[A]

You're over 30 now. You're trying to live forever, so you're like, of course I know what a blue zone is. I'm gonna drink wine and climb stairs every day forever.

[B]

I watched The Netflix documentary.

[A]

I'm. I'm good social support. And then this is probably gonna be what's responsible for most of Canada's quality of life decline. The final one. GDP per capita.

[B]

You know what? I. I want to pull that up. I'm going to explain to people what that means at the end of this episode, because.

[A]

Do it right now. Just take a minute, prepare yourself. I'll pull up a negative chart of Canada's GDP per capita while you pull up the definition.

[B]

Deal? Done. All right, ready? GDP per capita. So everyone posted this for the realtors that are watching, which I think is most of you. Everybody, all the realtors are posting this GDP per capita chart showing Canada that had a growth of like, what, 1.4% or something?

[A]

GDP and GDP.

[B]

Okay, so I think GDP per capita.

[A]

Is that divided by the population, right?

[B]

Okay, so we got GDP per capita as a way to measure how economic activity, how much economic activity a country produces on average for each person living there. So, like, in simple terms, it's like dividing the total money piece a country makes in a year by the number of people who get a slice. So GDP is gross domestic product, which is the total value of everything a country produces, like cars and food and services in one year. And then per capita means, like, per person. So If a country's GDP is 100 billion and it has 10 million people, the GDP per capita is 10,000. That's the average economic output per person. So it's often used to compare how wealthy or productive countries are. A higher GDP per capita usually means people have more access to money, goods, services. It's an average. It doesn't show the wealth. It doesn't show if the wealth is spread evenly or if everyone actually gets that amount. But it's like a snapshot of the country's economic health per person.

[A]

Good way to. Good way of looking at it. So let's go back to the pie. So you got a pie.

[B]

Let's go back to the piece.

[A]

Dave's hungry. Let's go back to the pie. You've got a pie. You've got 10 slices. Okay?

[B]

Right.

[A]

And then you. You. You think you got 10 guests coming over, but then one of two of your guests bring friends. And now all of a sudden, you've got. Still got 10 slices, but you've got 12 guests. And so you gotta start cutting that pie up a little bit more. And that means everybody's gotta chip in a little bit. So the amount of pieces per person shrinks, right? And then if the pie is next so next time, next time you have a party, you're like, frick, Dave's gonna bring all of his buddies, I gotta make more pie. So next time you make a bigger pie, okay, you make it. And so your pie now can accommodate 12 slices. But Dave brings Frickin five friends next time to your party. And now all of a sudden you've got 15 people trying to eat 12 slices of pie. And so even though your pie grew, your GDP grew, the amount of PI per person decreased. And so this chart, this chart that I have up shows that, you know, they, they very much will call it a standard of living. The OECD is pretty kind of like unanimously agreed that your, your GDP per capita is a good measure of standard of living. And, and if you look at GDP per capita in Canada versus the U.S. i mean, Canada has basically seen no growth of the economy on a per person basis since 2015. Unfortunately, it just happens to start in 2015. That's very unfortunate for Trudeau, but he's gone now anyway, so he probably doesn't.

[B]

Care, they're trying to say.

[A]

And so whereas the US is, is, is crushing it. Now, if you look at Canada compared to other countries like in the G7, which will do, it's not as bad, but it's still pretty bad, to tell you the truth. So I put a bunch of charts out on this recently that I'll, I'll start pulling them up. But any thoughts on this while I'm.

[B]

While I'm doing that, my man? I'm, I'm still thinking about the pie and how slices we're trying to come here for my friends, like how many, how many pieces of pie do I need? No, I, I think, look, this stuff's important for us to cover because I really feel especially a lot of our listeners are our realtors, I think for the most part trying to help their clients either invest globally or just learn. And I, I think, I think I really want to do an episode on like fosisms versus like for all of us to understand. So this, this pie explanation I think is great. And I think that's what people are looking to do, looking to learn a little bit. And now you know about pies and you know about GDP per capita, really Win, win, in my opinion.

[A]

Okay, let me, let me pull up these because, because one of these charts got retweeted by JD Vance, which, no big deal. A lot of people, this upset a lot of people, which, you know, I get. We're talking about the political divides. It's cool I get it. People. Some people like. Like the current administration in the U.S. some people do not. But we're not here to discuss that.

[B]

Either way, it's cool. That's what I said. Someone commented or someone messaged us privately on our Real Estate Without Borders Instagram, and they said, that's not a flex. And I was like, kind of is. You know, I said, we're not saying that we're in favor of anybody here, but it's still cool. Like a person of that statue.

[A]

It would have been cool if Kamala Harris did it. Like, you know, and different group of people would have been mad at me. Like, you know, like. Like, it's not my fault. I didn't retweet it, honestly. But it's still cool that the vice president re, quote, tweeted my thing. So it is what it is.

[B]

We had a few people that day do that one, though. Wasn't there a couple people?

[A]

Oh, yeah. The tweet's still absolutely ripping. So let's look at this tweet. Okay. Because this is. This is important. This is an important piece of the. Of the. Of the. Just the conversation that we're having.

[B]

That was the one with. I just got it.

[A]

I missed the share button. There we go. So it says, Canada's recent population boom has not come with productivity gains. And it shows population growth, which is just like a hockey stick graph. A. And then real GDP per worker has been in decline and basically flat for two years. And so this comes from a Financial Times article called Unlocking Canada's Superpower Potential. And it. And it has a lot of really good charts. But yeah, that one. Let me just find it here. That one was. If I go to my quote tweets, here it was quote tweeted and retweeted.

[B]

By a lot of.

[A]

A lot of folks. There's the JD Vance one 11k retweets on that 3 million views. So that tweet itself has like 6 million views on it. Right?

[B]

Jeez, that's good reach right there.

[A]

And it comes from. And I tagged this guy, this Tej Parikh, who is a Financial Times article or journalists. And this art. This article is awesome. So. So we won't go too much into Canada, but here's. This is the chart that I wanted to show you here, which is the G7. So Canada's economy has drifted behind its G7 peers. And again, this is probably why, because a lot of these guys, you will see on that chart, on the original chart, we're talking about the happiness Index. This is a very easy clinic for me to run on why, why a country's happiness might be falling as a result of that. That original chart that I mentioned right here where you're showing 2023 World Happiness Report, you've got Canada in 13th place. GDP per capita is pretty, pretty, pretty good. You know, it's kind of in line that would have contracted substantially since then because of this, this article that I'm, that I'm showing you here. And you can see Canada's economy has drifted behind its G7 peers. It shows Japan and like Japan is like an interesting comp, right? Because Japan's economy has been stagnant for like 10 plus years. Their, their stock market just hit its 1990s peak actually though. And then same thing like if, yeah and, and same same thing. If you go to France, Germany, Italy and the uk it's comparing us to all of those. Canada's way behind. When you look at GDP and ppp, which is purchasing power parity, this is the, excluding the U.S. bottom, bottom line.

[B]

Yeah. I mean this all obviously back to the. Yeah, I can see there, there we go. That makes sense. I mean the less money you're making, the less happy you are, which makes sense. It seems simple.

[A]

Especially if, if like you're experiencing inflation at the same time, right? Well, yeah, like typically, you know, a lot of people say money doesn't buy happiness but like it does buy food and you know, your vehicle and shelter and all of those things. And like I would argue that look, you go, you can go to like a poor country and you'll see people who aren't unhappy and have no money, but it's a relative thing, right? If Canadians, if you feel worse off, like if you go to the Western world where people now, 10 years ago, you know, our generation, when I was in my 20s and maybe like I was like working a part, you know, a part time job or in university or like working my first entry level job and I could afford like a sick place, I could go out every night like all of these things. And now 10 years later I'm like, you know, struggling to make ends meet. That's, that's what kills people, right? Like that's what, that's the decline in happiness that we're talking about that happened over the last 10 years from 2015 to 2025. Because that like the scenario I described is a realistic scenario for a lot of, a lot of Canadians, right?

[B]

Yeah. No, you're abs. You nailed it. Like, I mean, well I'm 10 years ago. I mean, the cost of living has increased and it. What's our. What's the percentage of income earned?% like increase versus cost of living increase? Probably not comparable.

[A]

Yeah, so. So that would be like real. So real. Real means you're adjusting it for inflation, right? So. So real wage growth is. Is like zero or like negative, to be honest. Depends on. On how you like perceive inflation. But yeah, most Canadians feel worse off than they were before. Pretty simple.

[B]

That was, that was the, the chart that everyone was posting there. Right. Real wage growth per capita first gdp.

[A]

No, that's real. That's more its output. So it's actually real GDP per worker. So the amount of economic productivity that's coming from each worker, which each person like the.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

But it showed like. I think it was explaining like, how much wealthier each individual Canadian has gotten since 2015. And it was very small. Correct?

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. I don't think it's grown since 20. 2018. It's fallen since 2018. That's what the. That's the first thing on the chart.

[B]

On the actual world happiness char.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, no, on the, on the world happiness chart. So this. So they don't have the. The country rankings by Life evaluations for 2025 yet or 2024. Yeah, it's just. It only has the 2023 rankings. But I was just kind of do. I was pulling that up in hopes of. Of get getting some context on what makes. What. What, what, what it's composed by. Right.

[B]

We should get. I wanna, we should cover the rankings of who's. We don't even know who's number one yet, man. Who's number one?

[A]

Yeah, we just went through it. I'll go, I'll go back here. Yeah, we'll look at it again here. Let's go.

[B]

I think it was what, Finland number one.

[A]

Finland. Yeah. Which is like, again, you know, you were saying, oh, I. This surprised me because I've never seen this before, but it's like Finland's been. Finland's been number one for forever. Crushing. Yeah. Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden right there. And they've all been top three for the same. For the last. Then you've got Sweden. Then you've got up there, man. The Netherlands, Costa Rica number six, Norway number seven, Israel number eight. And Israel's come down. Everyone else has been climbing or like Costa Rica. Look at that jump up, man. Israel, Luxembourg, Mexico. Mexico is the biggest gain. Look at this, man. Like we. I'm gonna, I'm gonna re. Do this chart by coloring it Properly. And I just can't believe. Like, look at the jump up in Mexico. In Mexico there.

[B]

Does this say where? So like in the report we can find it. Like it wasn't.

[A]

We actually pull up the report.

[B]

Okay, okay, let's see. I got. It's rent. It ranks by what? Cantrell ladder. Donated, volunteered, Helped a stranger, Neighbor. Stranger and police. It's kind of shocking because I think a lot of people feel have this like stigma that Mexico is super unsafe. But I mean, based on this ranking system, it's not so bad. New Zealand, who's at the very bottom?

[A]

I don't know. You have to pull up that, pull up that report. That's the bottom of the top 20.

[B]

Oh, we gotta keep going. I haven't even heard of half these places.

[A]

This is why we do this for you to learn this.

[B]

Lao pdr, Mozambique was on there.

[A]

That's an apple.

[B]

Yeah. Gabon. I don't know that one. Iran, Congo, Iraq. Wow. I can't say half of these. Interesting. We. I want to go. What, what, what makes them qualify? I don't think we covered that yet. Like, what's. I know it's a long report and we can't cover all 270 pages of.

[A]

It, but I actually found. I found the updated report. So this is from 2020 to 2024 and it shows the gaps. So if you go to, let's say Canada, 18th. Right. So the country rankings by life evaluations.

[B]

What are the. What do the colors mean on this chart? For those?

[A]

Same as the other chart. So you've got GDP per capita. So from left to right, the blue, GDP per capita. Then purple, social support. Then the teal is healthy life expectancy. Pink is freedom to make life choice choices. The greenish yellow is generosity. Orange is perceptions of corruption. And blue is dystopia. Plus residual.

[B]

Where's Mexico on this one?

[A]

This is the updated one. So that's. Yeah, no, Mexico is right here. 10. How's it, how's it ranking on perceptions of corruption? That's an interesting one. Wow. Low. Look at that. Oh, I guess that means that it's bad because small would be. It would give you a smaller bar.

[B]

Small.

[A]

So Mexico small. Small is bad.

[B]

Small's bad. That's okay.

[A]

But it does. But Mexico doesn't feel dystopian. That's probably. It's probably at the biggest bar for perceptions of dystopia. You know what I mean?

[B]

I think dystopia means man.

[A]

Hold on. We know what dystopia means. You defined it. It's Like a, you know, it's like a, it's like a unimaginably bad society.

[B]

Yeah. Refers to an imagined or real society where conditions are extremely bad, often characterized by oppression, suffering, injustice, or a loss of freedom. It's the opposite of utopia. That makes a lot of sense.

[A]

Yeah. So look at. And it's interesting because if you look at these two, like the two. The two countries with the biggest bars for which would be the most positive ranking in. In that is Costa Rica number six here and Mexico number 10. And that those are the two biggest bars actually on the whole chart. So that's. So the fact that they don't feel dystopian. And so probably this is why, because if you, if you come to the US Or Canada, it. Like, I'm not one of the people who feels this way, but I, I can empathize with people who do feel like we're living in a dystopian society in Canada or in the U.S. i mean, you know, people who, I mean, look like we, you know, and same thing in, in Europe and stuff like that. It's like people don't want to be policed for the language that they use or, you know, things like, you know, oppressions of speech or, or even on the other side, like, you know, you're talking about like the, like, right to choice, you know, autonomy over one's body, you know, whether it's reproductive rights or, or vaccines on the other side. Right. Like, this is where people are starting to see that perception of dystopia creep up. And so let's look at the bar in the United States. It's, it's. I would say it's pretty average for here where.

[B]

Right.

[A]

People. So they probably be average in the dystopian perspective in Canada about the same. So. But I'd be curious to see how those kind of, those, those dystopian perceptions have. Have climbed over the last little bit. Ireland is, is actually the smallest bar on that.

[B]

Did you see who's running for prime minister? Present Prime Minister of Ireland or who's made their, their name?

[A]

Yeah, tell me.

[B]

Conor McGregor. Yeah, Conor McGregor.

[A]

Do you think he'll win? I feel like, like everybody loves him in that country now.

[B]

I think so. I, I honestly, I mean, he's, he went off the deep end there a little bit. Sorry, can you turn the light on for me? He went off the deep end? Yeah, he went off the deep end a bit there, but he's, he's crushing it. So, I mean, we'll see. I Think everyone just wants honesty. You know, like you said, that's what, that's what kind of. You've been posting about lately and everything. And I think that's what people want. They want the honesty and they want, you know, that's what brings happiness. That and all these other things. But I mean, that look, yeah, I.

[A]

Guess Conor McGregor, I think people, I think people don't want to be gaslit by their politicians.

[B]

Right, Exactly.

[A]

Like, they, like, even if it's bad, they just want to be told it's bad. They don't want to be said like someone to be like, oh, you know, and I think this is like one of the issues that a lot of people have with the more leftist politicians right now is that, you know, look, like we discussed this in the episode about the pen, the global pension systems. Right, Right. I know why all of these politics or why all Western countries are trying so hard to grow their populations with immigration. And that's one of the things that Conor McGregor was in the White House talking about. Right. I understand why that's happening because I, I study this. But most people don't understand why it's happening. And it's happening because we have more old people in our countries than young people. And so our countries, the economies are imbalanced, and so there's no way that they can possibly sustain the pension obligations without having more young people, working class people in the country. And so in order to do that, you have to grow the base of young people. Okay, well, there's only two ways you can do that. Your population can have more kids. Well, the Western world's basically stopped having kids. Birth rates have collapsed. So they're. What's the other way to do it? Bring more working age people into the country from other populations in the world that have high birth rates. Like India, like Africa. Right. Like China.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And. And I get that, but I think politicians really could have benefited from just telling the population that, like, hey, so true. Hey, it's not our fault. Like, cause. Cause it's not their, like, you know, I mean, even if it's like, let's think about, let's use the Trudeau example or even the example of the government in Ireland that Conor McGregor is going to be running against. It's like, hey, 30 years ago when the government promised your parents a pension, their math was off. And we're fixing the math, okay? Like, you know, and blame it on the past politicians and then say, we're fixing the math. And there's only two ways we can do that we can either charge you a ton more money, we can do what France tried to do and was met with civil unrest, which is delay the age at which people can qualify for a pension. So we've determined that. Let's check that one off the list of bad ideas. That's not going to work. Increase your taxes. Right. Or we can add more people to the population that are paying. And I would, I would actually agree that economically and socially, that's probably the best option, like most people, and it's the easiest one to push in because people, the way that the tax actually takes place is that inflates the economy, it causes inflation, so you have more people consuming more workers, more money coming into the country. And so that creates inflation. And inflation is functionally the same as tax. Right. It creates. So all the boomers in Canada who benefited now from all of the immigrants coming to Canada, the, The value of their properties went up. Exactly. And so now all of a sudden they're more well off. Right. Relative to the younger people, but the younger people are way less well off, which is why the happiness thing is taking place. So it's a dynamic problem, man. Yeah, I think, and this is the challenge that I think we are facing with, like, with democracy is it's become so divided because they, the, the politicians aren't making an effort to unify the population around a clear message. They're trying to split the population into two voting blocs where they can say, you know, we can, if we can agitate this group of people enough to come out and vote for us, then we'll. We'll win the election. Right. And so they're each taking very clear messaging on either end. And so when you do get people who come out and tell the truth about what's happening, the truth ends up also being extreme, like, pretty extreme. Like the way that, you know, Donald Trump's messaging or Elon's messaging has been around, this hasn't resonated exceptionally with a lot of people. As an example. Right. And maybe, maybe some people even say it's not true. I don't know. It's not really up to me to. I don't. I think the truth is pretty objective. So if there's a lie and somebody can prove it, sure. If it's true and somebody can't. Can't. Can prove it, then sure, I'll, I'll agree. But the point of I'm trying to make is like, I would have been like, super happy if any, any Canadian politician said to me, hey, quality of life's declining we get it we're sorry we're trying to grow the population so that we can sustain X thing and eventually this will will like event population growth will slow and GDP will recover and that's true and it's going to start happening because Canada's population growth is slowing but for now it's going to suck we're going to we got to go through like a couple years of bad and then eventually there's a light at the end of the tunnel like I don't if I'm a politic if I'm a politician that seems like a messaging that makes sense I don't know why they don't do this stuff they should need to hire me as a political strategist 100% man anything else you want to add on this one before we wrap this up? Where is that where'd you find all that grock yeah I just was going to pull up a visual for it from the report but I couldn't find find what you're talking about Awesome.