South Africans are faily happy

“Zimbabwians even happier than South Afric ans” was in a headline on the front page of a major South Afric an newspaper in June 2012 2 . The article reported an international study according to which So uth Africans were the unhappiest people in the world and even unhappier than people in Zi mbabwe. Several other South African newspapers reported in the same vein. This news report strikes as strange. How can South Africans be the least happy, while the standard of living is the highest in Africa? And why do so many Zimbabwians seek a better life in South Africa if that country is such a sink of unhappiness? So there seems to be something wrong with this information.