Behind the Smile; Can poor people be more self-satisfied than the rich? New clues to an old mystery.

Byline: Richard Ernsberger Jr. (With Emily Flynn in London and Jaime Cunningham in New York)

The conclusion was, to say the least, surprising: a World Value Survey of people in 65 nations, conducted recently by an international group of social scientists and first reported in the British magazine New Scientist, decided that the world's happiest people lived in Nigeria. Those ranked second to fifth in the happiness survey were the people of Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador and Puerto Rico. The findings defied conventional wisdom. Nigerians live in a volatile, poverty-stricken country. Could they really be more content than, say, proudly prosperous Americans, whose bountiful nation placed a dismal 16th on the list?

We Americans are told in our Declaration of Independence that three things are sacrosanct--"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." And like fellow hedonists in Asia, Europe and elsewhere, we've clearly taken the message to heart. We work hard, earn lots of money and spend gleefully on iPods, flat-screen TVs, SUVs and all sorts of expensive fripperies. We indulge, we gratify--and therefore we expect to be the happiest damn people on the planet.

So why aren't we? Happiness is, of course, a subjective quality with links to genetics, health, personality, income level and expectations. The word "happy" is not easy to define and means different things to different people. Americans equate happiness with self-esteem and personal success, whereas for the Japanese, joy derives more from self-discipline and fulfilling one's obligations to family, company and community. When respondents in the World Value Survey were asked a second question--if they were "satisfied" with their lives rather than "very happy"--the results were much different. Developed nations jumped up in the rankings dramatically.

Despite the perils of trying to measure happiness, there are links between public policy and personal satisfaction. Unsurprisingly, people with jobs are happier than the unemployed. People with ample leisure time are perkier than those who have their shoulders to the wheel 60 hours a week. But the relationship between money and happiness can be tricky. Daniel Kahneman, a professor of economics at Princeton and co-winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize, says the notion that poorer people are happier than the wealthy is a myth. "People are more satisfied with their lives if their income is higher. They consider themselves more fortunate and more successful--more things have gone their way in ...