I agree. I think this is one of those "correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation" articles. I'm sure some of it has to do with material items, but I can't

I agree. I think this is one of those "correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation" articles. I'm sure some of it has to do with material items, but I can't help after reading some of the comments here (markyc's comment on Romania, for instance) that there are far more things at play: Cultural values, adulthood stresses, etc. Not every culture places a strong emphasis on material goods, and not every culture that is strongly materialistic is made happy by material assets. Out of curiosity, I had a look at some of the metrics on Wikipedia for comparison. Colombia ranks 4th according to the adult "happiness index" (after Germany) but 80th on the inequality-adjusted human development index and 98th on the standard HDI--compared to Norway which ranks 1st in both metrics. I can't say I know what this means, but from what I understand, I'd imagine that countries higher on the HDI index therefore have more equal access to services adults find important (like healthcare) and more equal income (and therefore purchasing power) and "should" be happier. Likewise, these countries ought to have greater access to material goods. (But, there's also the issue of who they interviewed, their income levels, etc.) I could be completely wrong, but I just can't imagine that owning a plethora of things necessarily equates to increased happiness.