Is it all about the money?

A recent study trying to establish which countries are "happiest" found a correlation between wealth and happiness (IE. Countries which rated higher levels of "happiness" were generally countries with higher income earning populations.).

I looked up some statistics myself trying to see if income discrepency played a role in LESS happiness, and although very limited sampling, (first world) countries with higher income discrepancy DID rank lower than countries with more equal distribution of wealth.

Surprisingly (to me), Norway has the highest proportion of millionaires (per capita), yet ranks 3rd in "happiness".

The Gini coefficient is a measure of the inequality of a distribution which has been used to measure inequalities in different disciplines including economics.

Using the Gini coefficient, Norway ranks higher (IE. Less inequality) than countries such as Japan, USA, and Canada. Not surprisingly, these countries rank lower in happiness.

So as much as money is a major contributor to happiness, (a sense) of (more) equality may be even more influential.