First place in the rankings was given to Iceland with 14 per cent of people reporting to have depression and Ireland, Germany and Turkey all coming in second place with 12 per cent. Today is my pleasurable sadness day.’”. In most countries, the men (and it’s almost always men) honoured in such places are macho generals. Participants were asked to watch videotaped statements of people accused of theft and figure out who was lying. This list of European countries by population comprises the 51 countries and 6 territories and dependencies in Europe, broadly defined, including Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and the countries of the Caucasus.. Of course France is not a sad country, but they have huge problems. Researchers from the Free University of Berlin surveyed 772 people around the world and found that sad music “can actually lead to beneficial emotional effects,” according to the study, published in the journal Plos One. is taking place, Hindu monks set up Diya lamps at the BAPS Neasden Temple, London, on this morning of Diwali, Dominic Cummings, special advisor for Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street, A surfer silhouetted against the waves at Tynemouth, near North Shields, People walk past the Tommy statue, officially named 1101, on Terrace Green by the seafront in Seaham, County Durham, on the anniversary of Armistice Day. You hear it – and feel it – everywhere: on the radio, in concert halls and, most of all, in Lisbon’s several dozen fado houses. Naturally, it is bittersweet. The data revealed the percentage of depression sufferers in the UK was more than double that of people in Greece, Italy and Poland, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. One study, published in 2008 in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, found that sadness improves our memory. I sure hope not. Melancholy, because the music was undeniably morose, as were the lyrics, which a Portuguese friend translated for me. The World Happiness Report is an annual survey by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations. Relief, because, for once, I felt no compunction to squelch or deny my sadness. The first one is Brazil, it comes in second of the United States with 11.5 million depression cases. “I’m inviting you to share at the table of my sadness.” In Portugal, that’s a big table with room for everyone. Adam Taylor. A girl of the same age living in Europe has a lifetime risk of 1 in 3,300," said Geeta Rao Gupta, ... To see the full list of saddest and happiest countries in the world, please click here. At the heart of saudade lies a yawning sense of absence, of loss. It is untranslatable, every Portuguese person assured me, before proceeding to translate it. Saudade, writes scholar Aubrey Bell in his book In Portugal, is “a vague and constant desire for something... other than the present.”, It is possible to feel saudade for anything, publisher Jose Prata told me over lunch one day at Lisbon’s bustling Cais do Sodre market. Out of the 178 listed countries, here's where our seven saddest rank: Russia: 80th, Turkey: 86th, Greece: 138th, Hungary: 141st, Estonia: 145th, Italy: 147th, and Portugal: 161st. In Portugal, it’s moody poets. The average across all 25 ranked countries was 10 per cent and 6 per cent respectively. Much of it is due to the effects of violence and social inequality across the country. In Portugal, no one tells you to have a nice day. British people are among the most depressed people in the Western world, according to new data. Freight lorries cannot cross by sea or through the Eurotunnel and the Port of Dover has closed to outbound traffic, Police officers at Euston Station, London, with more being deployed to enforce travel rules at London’s stations, Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a news conference in response to the ongoing situation with the coronavirus disease pandemic, inside 10 Downing Street, London. Europe's largest country is Russia (37% of total continent area), and the smallest one is Vatican City, which occupies only a tiny territory in the center of Rome. 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Interestingly, the positive benefits of sad music were experienced differently among different cultures. It’s an ethos epitomized by the smiley face emoji, which is said to have been invented in the US in 1963, and empty expressions like “have a nice day”. Poll of more than 12,000 workers from across UK shows people working in the public sector took on average nearly three days off sick in the last year because of their mental health, Swimmers prepare for dip in the Thames estuary at Chalkwell Beach near Southend On Sea in Essex, The MS Princess Seaways arrives at the mouth of the Tyne as the sun rises on the North East coast of England, The closed entrance to the Port of Dover. In Portugal, it’s moody poets. The Wintershall Estate have adapted their traditional Nativity play to accommodate the Coronavirus pandemic restrictions and this year it takes the form of a walk through the estate set in the Surrey Hills. “You can have a bad voice and be a great fado singer,” he said, “because fado comes from the heart.”. The event was held to raise money for the Age UK charity and involved participants from an open water swimming club, The sun sets behind the Palace of Westminster, the home of the Houses of Parliament in central London, The finishing touches are put to a 40ft Christmas Tree at Somerset House in London, A swimmer takes to the water at Serpentine Swimming Club after the second national lockdown ends in England. The EU average score is bang on 7 out of 10. Top 10 ranking of 25-64-year-olds who reported suffering from depression@ Country … What makes saudade tolerable, pleasant even, is that “it is a very sharable feeling,” Prata explained. Read about our approach to external linking. Click on the tags below to find other quizzes on the same subject. Sadness is an important part of life, she told me, adding that she can’t understand why anyone would avoid it. There's nothing slick about this sort of fado house. Sad music also fires the imagination and evokes “a wide range of complex and partially positive emotions,” they concluded. 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Walkers will enjoy beautifully staged mini-tableaus from the Nativity story, performed by a cast of volunteers with a full complement of sheep, cows and horses, People walk through Ashford in Kent as Tier 3 restrictions are planned for large areas of England, A dog retrieves a hard hat from flood water in Sutton in Cambridgeshire, as the Met Office have warned the next couple of months are likely to be wetter than normal in the UK, raising the prospect of flooding, Queens Park Rangers fans cheer on their side in the stands during the Sky Bet Championship match at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, London, An empty restaurant in the West End of London after the announcement that the capital and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire will face Tier 3 restrictions from Wednesday following a rise in coronavirus cases, Lobsters are processed at the fishing port at Bridlington Harbour in Yorkshire, after European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she and Boris Johnson had agreed to continue negotiations on a post-Brexit trade deal, Shoppers on the streets of tier 3-restricted Birmingham ahead of Christmas, People take pictures of a new street artwork entitled 'Aachoo!!' The maps and graphs below show the latest data on road deaths across the European Union and other countries covered by ETSC’s Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) programme.. You can find full analysis and background data tables in the latest (2020) annual edition of the ETSC PIN report. 40 Saddest Country Songs of All Time Cry, Cry, Cry: From George Jones to Brad Paisley, the biggest weepers ever You can find our Community Guidelines in full here. The data also showed women are more likely to report the condition than men. The polling firm spoke to 154,000 people in 145 different countries, asking them about how they were feeling that day. The happiest and saddest countries in the European Union are revealed in time for the International Day of Happiness today. Several studies suggest that the Portuguese are onto something. The Portuguese are content with their discontentment, and, in an odd but enlightening way, actually enjoy it. No other language has a word quite like it. The most visited travel destination in this part of the world is France with its capital Paris as the best place of interest, followed by Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Germany. An image of a chain link. Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines. The most populous country in Europe is Russia. Listening to the music, I felt an odd combination of melancholy and relief. Portugal’s culture of melancholy is hard to miss. Please check the list before adding your favourite(s) to the bottom. 13/09/2018. These Are The Most Miserable Countries In Europe. Music, Film, TV and Political News Coverage. The genre took root nearly two centuries ago in hardscrabble, working-class neighbourhoods of Lisbon. Why paint a painting with only one colour?” By avoiding sadness at all costs, she said, we diminish ourselves. The full list is shown in the table below, with current population and subregion (based on the United Nations official statistics). He announced London and southeast England set for tier 4 rules with Christmas bubbles canceled, Actors from the Wintershall Estate perform an adaptation of their traditional Nativity play on December 18, 2020 in Guildford, England. She prepares for each performance with a minute of silence, a sort of prayer, “before giving myself”, she told me. https://ec.europa.eu/.../general-overview/single-administrative-document-sad_en The most obvious social and economic evidence that something is amiss is unemployment. Europe is one of the most developed continents of the world but with the land area of 10,400,000 square kilometers, it happens to be the second smallest continent in the world. For Europeans and North Americans, the strongest emotion that sadness induced was nostalgia, while for Asians it was peacefulness. Yes, Portugal is a sad land, ranking 93rd of 157 countries (just behind Lebanon), according to the UN’s latest World Happiness Report. It’s easy to assume that the Portuguese are masochists, but if you spend some time here, as I did recently, you quickly realize that the Portuguese have much to teach us about the hidden beauty, and joy, in sadness. This was the perfect person, I realized, to explain Portugal’s joyful sadness. Want an ad-free experience?Subscribe to Independent Premium. Country music has developed a reputation as the designated genre for sad songs. The figures from 2014, also saw the UK percentage as more than double other countries including Greece, Italy, Poland and the Slovak Republic and 2 per cent higher than the average of 8 per cent. You see it etched on people’s sombre expressions – this is no Thailand, known as the Land of Smiles – and even in the statues that occupy prime real estate in Lisbon’s public squares. List of poorest countries in Europe by their GDP per capita (PPP). Some fado singers have beautiful, angelic voices, he told me, while others do not. If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. Fado means literally “destiny” or “fate”, and therein lays its sad beauty. About three million people are unemployed - 10.2% of the workforce. Yes, Portugal is a sad land, ranking 93rd of 157 countries (just behind Lebanon), according to the UN’s latest World Happiness Report. About this Quiz. And the lowest are Bulgaria, Serbia and Cyprus. In fact, when confronted with an unhappy Portuguese person, he explained, the worst thing you can do is try to cheer him up. Across the UK people fell silent in remembrance of the nation's war dead, as the coronavirus pandemic limits public commemorations, Number 10 special advisor Dominic Cummings waits to be admitted to 10 Downing Street in London, A mural of the president of the United States, Donald Trump which has been painted on the side of Islington Mill arts hub in Salford, Manchester, Chelsea pensioners watch a Remembrance Sunday service from their windows at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, D-Day veteran Jim Healy, 95, from Manchester who is taking part in the Royal British Legion's doorstep silence for Remembrance. Among Most Depressed Countries in the World ... Europe has the highest, led by Monaco, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands, each with between 20 and 40 psychiatrists per 100,000 people. They’re content with their discontentment, and, in an odd but enlightening way, actually enjoy it. If you ask a Portuguese person how they’re doing, the most enthusiastic reply you can expect is mais ou menos (so so). Saddest Country Songs. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? Scott Barbour/Getty Images. The world's angriest and saddest countries, ranked . The OECD analysed data from European health interview survey results and other national surveys across the world. This media cannot be played on your device. From today same-sex couples across Northern Ireland are able to marry through the official conversion of existing civil partnerships following a change in the law, Shoppers on Oxford Street in London on the first weekend following the end of the second national lockdown in England, Swimmers wearing fancy dress take to the water for a charity ‘fancy dress chilly dip’ swim in the sea at Leasowe Bay, northwest England. Not included in this total of "countries" and listed separately are: by The Week team. “I want to feel everything in every possible way. The first fado singers, or fadistas, were prostitutes and the wives of fishermen who may or may not return from sea. The participants experiencing negative emotions at the time were able to more accurately identify the deceptive suspects. He speaks on “Bloomberg Surveillance.” Are you sure you want to mark this comment as inappropriate? Another study in the same journal suggests sadness improves judgment. The highest scoring countries are - unsurprisingly - Finland, Switzerland and Sweden. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? 15 Cheapest Countries to Study Medicine in English 15 Best Places to Travel in April in Europe, Asia and Tropical Destinations 15 Countries with … As an American, I’ve been inculcated with the importance of being happy – or at least pretending to be happy – at all costs. 12 Sep 2018. Portugal’s “joyful sadness” is encapsulated in a single word: saudade. “You’re sad and you want to be sad,” he said. Due to the sheer scale of this comment community, we are not able to give each post the same level of attention, but we have preserved this area in the interests of open debate. “You’re at the office and people are trying to cheer you up, and you say ‘Don’t make me cheerful. No one particularly cares if you have a nice day, because chances are they’re not having a nice day either. The most insightful comments on all subjects will be published daily in dedicated articles. 2011-08-22T23:30:00Z The letter F. An envelope. Read on for the top 20 happiest countries in the world, as well as the 10 unhappiest places, the 10 happiest cities and the 10 unhappiest cities. Reported suffering from depression @, country total percentage of the workforce fado house visit music., to explain Portugal ’ s joyful sadness ” is beginning to wane to debate the issues. Inspector name Romeu, a friend we diminish ourselves makes saudade tolerable, pleasant even, that. 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