> For example: is Norway happy because they have a small population with massive, well-managed oil reserves to pay for their social services? The oil reserves

> For example: is Norway happy because they have a small population with massive, well-managed oil reserves to pay for their social services? The oil reserves don't pay for the social services. Some of the reserves are spent in the budget, but that is mostly skimming off the "interests", and there are restrictions put in place on how much you can use (maybe you already knew this; your wording was a bit ambiguous).