Posted on October 27, 2019 at 4:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
If you believe that popular fiction reflects the attitudes and concerns of the country in which it’s produced, then let’s hope you live in the United States.
A recent study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, analyzed the contents of 200 years’ worth of books published in the US, Britain, Italy, and Germany.
They then compared the happiness index generated from that data with trends in GDP and lifespans to see how it tracked incomes and health, according to Quartz.
The researchers found that the 1970s marked a low point for the UK and US, though the latter is currently at its happiness peak, per the book index.
Italy and Germany, however, are not feeling terribly optimistic.