Adapted from BMJ 25 May 2024
The World Values Survey Wave 6 2010-14 asked people from many different world countries what mattered the most to them. The topics that they said were grouped into six categories and these were ranked for the countries.
These were ranked in the world overall as being in order: Family, Work, Friends, Leisure Time, Religion and then Politics. How would you have answered?
There were some interesting differences. Almost all countries said that Family was the most important thing to them. Those in the Netherlands said Friends. People from Ghana said Work. Quatar, Egypt and Algeria all said Religion. All of these countries put Family in second place, so Family is still extremely close to people’s hearts all over the world.
Work and Friends seemed to be the most popular second choices.
Work was the next highest priority in Brasil, Ecuador, Peru, Romania, Azerberjan, India, Kyrgystan, Armenia, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Columbia, Mexico, and Uruguay.
Friends were the second highest priority in Argentina, Belarus, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Poland, Rwanda, Slovenia, Taiwan, Australia, Estonia, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Ukraine, USA, China, South Korea, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Turkey, and Georgia.
When it came to lowest priorities almost all countries agreed that Politics was what they cared about least. The Netherlands, Australia, Estonia, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, China and South Korea all put Religion last.
Leisure Time tended to be on the low end of priority too, but never the lowest.
If you are looking for the most fun, I think that the Netherlands is the place. They ranked Friends, Family and Leisure Time way above Work, Politics and Religion. I don’t know that they would be keen on overtime though!
Other fun prioritising countries are Australia, Estonia, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Ukraine, and the USA.
The least fun countries from this survey seem to be Algeria and Ghana. They both rank Work, Religion, and Family ahead of either Friends or Leisure Time.
When comparing my priorities with those in other countries it would seem that the clear winner for me is Uruguay.
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