ISRAEL - 5th Happiest Nation Despite War
Israel is ranked as the fifth happiest country in the world despite the war in Gaza and the October 7 massacre, according to the 2024 World Happiness Report.
The publication ranks happiness on a national level each year. This year, Israel earned the fifth spot out of 143 ranked countries, dropping only one spot from its ranking of fourth happiest last year.
Israel secured the number five spot behind Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden.
Other notable rankings from the survey include Iran at number 100 of 143, the “State of Palestine” at 103, Jordan at 125, Egypt at 127, Yemen at 133, Lebanon at 142, and Afghanistan in last place.
This means factors such as the economy, the degree of social involvement, and the health services in the country affect the ranking more than fleeting feelings. To give a more accurate picture of happiness in all countries, the report’s editors refer to the average life satisfaction in the last three years when calculating the ranking. Therefore, Israel’s ranking in fifth place in the happiness report marks the stability in life satisfaction in Israel over the last few years and not only in, for example, even during the Corona period, which was traumatic all over the world, but it was also still possible to see that the top ten of the global happiness ranking includes more or less the same countries every year.”
-www.jpost.com, 20 March 2024
Arno's Commentary
Israel is fighting a war in the south against Hamas in Gaza, and in the north, against Hezbollah. Uprisings, protests, and terrorist activities in Judea and Samaria have added to the problem. Plus, from far away Yemen, missiles are being sent to Israel’s Red Sea port, Eilat. Then there is Iran, which officially declared many times its goal of wiping the Zionist state off the map. How strange, therefore, is Israel’s calmness in the face of so many enemies.
We are reminded of Psalm 23:5: “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
