This is by far the biggest issue I have with any sort of international "happiness" scale. Some people like to complain a lot more than others, and culture-wide

This is by far the biggest issue I have with any sort of international "happiness" scale. Some people like to complain a lot more than others, and culture-wide differences can be huge. For example, the Economist had an article on the general malaise that hits the French (http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21591749-bleak-chic?zid=307&ah=5e80419d1bc9821ebe173f4f0f060a07 http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21591749-bl...).