[OliverGilan]

Don’t know why this is being downvoted when it’s objectively true. Parent says wealth inequality is less in Europe therefore being “poor” is more desirable which makes no sense. The US could have higher inequality but that could just mean the richest are richer and the poor have the same standard of living. It could mean the poor are poorer in the US and the richest are even. It could mean the poor AND the rich are richer and better off than their EU counterparts. Just looking at inequality numbers doesn’t tell you anything about quality of life between the two continents…

[mpweiher]

Your analysis is wrong. Wealth inequality by itself is a problem, even if absolute levels are higher. This has been shown in study after study.

This obviously doesn't mean that any wealth inequality dominates any absolute level (quick: everyone gets nothing!), and getting the balance right is tricky.

But looking at the world happiness index, it is obvious that European countries are doing a pretty good job.

https://dmerharyana.org/world-happiness-index/

    1 Finland 7.842 7.809 5,554,960
    2 Denmark 7.62 7.646 5,834,950
    3 Switzerland 7.571 7.56 8,773,637
    4 Iceland 7.554 7.504 345,393
    5 Netherlands 7.464 7.449 17,211,447
    6 Norway 7.392 7.488 5,511,370
    7 Sweden 7.363 7.353 10,218,971
    8 Luxembourg 7.324 7.238 642,371
    9 New Zealand 7.277 7.3 4,898,203
   10 Austria 7.268 7.294 9,066,710
   11 Australia 7.183 7.223 26,068,792
   12 Israel 7.157 7.129 8,922,892
   13 Germany 7.155 7.076 83,883,596
   14 Canada 7.103 7.232 38,388,419
   15 Ireland 7.085 7.129 5,020,199
   16 Costa Rica 7.069 7.121 5,182,354
   17 United Kingdom 7.064 7.165 68,497,907
   18 Czech Republic 6.965 6.911 10,736,784
   19 United States 6.951 6.94 334,805,269
   20 Belgium 6.834 6.864 11,668,278
   21 France 6.69 6.664 65,584,518