It's a survey, so on top of people ranking themselves based on how they feel (democracies seemingly tending to say "could be a lot better") you have autocracies drilling into their peoples heads to never shit talk the government or else. So of course you'll end up with a ranking like this (on that note: did they also survey the Uyghurs in china or was forced labor taken out of the equation? Same goes for Saudi Arabia)

Norway isn't in the study though? 🤨

Anyway as someone living in Norway, I can say that being one of the "happiest countries in the world" is very easy to achieve when a large percentage of the population has low standards from poor global exposure.

Working hours, worker protections and safety nets can be good indicators. While I don't really trust McKinsey, I can say that "employee well-being" is more than these measures. In this survey, they looked at physical, mental, social and spiritual health. I'd guess that if Norway was included, they would actually do pretty badly.

Our health system - for both physical and mental health - is failing very badly (it's also not free, not even all that cheap by the way.) I say this as someone who has used the system, have friends and family who have used it, and have friends working in both sectors. Immigrant friends and colleagues, some from third-world countries, return home when they need anything relating to health rather than rely on the local system. There is also a growing medical tourism industry, where people travel to places like Poland and Romania.

Social health is also probably low-ranking, especially for immigrant employees. Language and the culture of social exclusion by locals are large barriers to entry. A different survey has actually shown Norway ranking last in expat happiness/desirability.

Ultimately, all countries have their good and bad sides. I guess I just wanted to provide some insight into the misconceptions of Norway people generally have.

There's probably sampling bias going on because of who McKinsey has access to.

McKinsey's offices in Turkey, India, and China tend to be in big tech/finance hubs (Beijing, Shanghai, Istanbul, Bengaluru, Mumbai) and, because of the scale of these countries, McKinsey rarely has to leave those contexts. I can absolutely believe that overall quality of life and satisfaction is better in those cities than in the West in aggregate. Beijing alone has a larger population than Sweden and Norway combined.

Netherlands not Norway

Are you allowed to complain? Is obviously the big factor.

This is Japan is worse to be an employee AND have the right to complain about. Being a slave does not count