Top 30 Happiest Countries in the 2026 World Happiness Report. Orange marks indicate European countri...
  • lornosaj@lemmy.worldEnglish
    99·
    3 days ago

    Wanted finally to see how they get to this data:

    Gallup interviews approximately 1,000 nationally representative residents aged 15 and older per country.

    This is a laughable sample size.

    Lived in some of these countries (both EU and Balkans) and have known people leaving some en masse. Call me a cynic but what a joke.

    • pulsey@feddit.orgEnglish
      233·
      3 days ago

      Comparing a small sample size to your anecdotal non-representative sample is also a joke.

      • lornosaj@lemmy.worldEnglish
        66·
        3 days ago

        And you think random circa 1000 people are sufficiently representing your country? Is it really properly spread across all demographics? Or are we just targeting bigger cities in those countries and having a skewed outcome?

        Look at the questions and then look into some countries from the list - e.g. media freedom or availability of work is not really on par in Balkans or V4 and you have Kosovo or Serbia on the top 30 list? Nothing suspicious here?

        Sure, my viewpoint is subjective, but it is also something Ive been a part of for the last 20+ years, so maybe weigh in with your view instead of just blatantly disregarding someones. Cheers.

    • Don Piano@feddit.orgEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      The variance of the mean of samples is the variance of the population divided by the sample size. For the standard deviation you take the root. That is to say: The sample size is plenty big, the representativeness is closer to where you could try leveling criticism of this type. But to do that, you’d have to look at how they selected the sample and what the state of the art of sample selection is.