If you turned Israel's high life ratings into a very concrete inner monologue, it might sound something like this:
Today was scary again. I'm furious at how the government is handling things. My family could be in danger. But I have a family worth protecting. If I'm in trouble, relatives and friends will show up. I have a reason to live here. So I don't think my whole life is worthless.
This is not
happiness without anxiety.
It is
happiness in which anxiety doesn't easily leave you isolated, without meaning, or without a place where you belong.
1. The Expectation That "Someone Will Come When You're in Trouble"
In the World Happiness Report, "social support" doesn't measure how generous a country's welfare system is.
The question is, roughly:
If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you whenever you need them?[1]
Israel ranked 9th on social support, with a score of 0.938. Japan ranked 53rd, at 0.870.[1]
On paper the gap is about 7 points, but it's big when you ask, "What do I actually expect to happen when I'm in real trouble?"
In practice, it means relationships like these:
- When you have to leave your home, there's somewhere you can stay
- When you can't pick up your kids, someone steps in for you
- If you need food or supplies, someone brings them
- Showing a weak side doesn't end the relationship
- You'll be the one helping them next time
- You already have a history of helping each other
It's not just about knowing a lot of people. The relationships can actually be used.
The 2025 World Happiness Report compared young people's social connections. In Japan, more than 30% of young people were socially isolated, meaning they had no one they felt close to. Israel was in the top tier for the quality of support, meaning people they could rely on when they needed it.[2]
2. You Can Explain Who You Are Through Family, History and Culture
In Israel, especially among Jewish Israelis, including secular people who don't live a religious life, the sense of belonging to family, people, history and land is strong.
In a Pew Research Center survey, 93% of Jews in Israel said they are proud to be Jewish, and 88% said they feel a strong sense of belonging to the Jewish community. Many also named close family ties as central to their identity.[3]
So even on a day when work is boring, you don't have to define yourself only as
the employee who gets evaluated at the office.
You still have several other images of yourself:
- A member of a family
- A member of a circle of friends
- A member of a local community
- Someone who passes a culture on
- Someone living the next chapter of a long history
- Someone who protects other people
Even if you lose faith in your company or your government, your whole sense of self is less likely to collapse at the same time.
3. In a Crisis, Your Role Becomes Clear
In a crisis, burdens and dangers rise sharply.
At the same time, it tends to become clear what you should be doing right now:
- Protecting your family
- Helping people who've been evacuated
- Delivering meals
- Filling in where there's a labor shortage
- Keeping shops and schools running
- Supporting the families of people called up for military duty
None of this is about having fun. It's about feeling useful, having a mission, and believing you can make a difference.
Even when life is painful, if people can feel that
I'm needed. What I do helps someone. What I do is connected to results.
it's hard for them to judge their whole life as meaningless.
4. Distrusting the Government Is Separate From Belonging to Your Country, Family and Community
Not every Israeli trusts the government strongly.
In a 2024 Pew survey, trust in the government and the military differed sharply between Jewish and Arab Israelis, and between the political left and right. 93% of Jewish Israelis said the military has a positive influence on society, versus 34% of Arab Israelis. Trust in the government showed a similar gap: 61% among Jewish Israelis and 23% among Arab Israelis.[4]
So it would be a mistake to read Israel's average as
everyone supports the government and the war, and is happy thanks to a strong community.
In reality, all of these can be true at once:
I don't trust the government. I oppose its policies. I'll still protect my family and friends. I want my culture and my way of life to carry on.
5. Don't Idealize Israel
Close-knit families and communities naturally come with costs:
- Interference in your private life
- Religious and family norms
- Pressure to marry and have children
- Difficulty stepping out of your role
- Pressure to conform to the group
- Division from outside groups
- Pressure around military service
- Difficulty turning down family expectations
Also, Israel's ranking does not fold the life evaluations of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank into "Israeli happiness." The World Happiness Report counts Israel and the State of Palestine separately.[1]
So the most we can say is this:
In parts of Israeli society, family, social support, belonging, roles and meaning are strong enough to cushion the huge negative weight of war.
War does not create happiness. What's strong is the set of resources that keeps a person's whole life from becoming meaningless, even in the midst of suffering.
