Monitoring Happy People and Happy Countries During the New Year's Holidays: Methodological Challenges and Paradoxical Data Introduction: The Festival as a Social and Psychological Experiment New Year's holidays represent a unique time interval for studying subjective well-being (SWB). This is a period when social rituals, cultural expectations, and individual psychological processes interact most intensely. Monitoring happiness during this time is confronted with a classic paradox: the gap between the prescribed social norm of joy ("obligation of happiness") and the actual emotional experience, which may include stress, loneliness, and existential anxiety ("holiday blues"). Scientific analysis of this phenomenon requires distinguishing macro-social data (country rankings) and micro-level psychological measurements. 1. Macro-level: Happy countries and the New Year's "background effect" Annual global happiness rankings, such as the World Happiness Report, based on data from the Gallup World Poll and evaluating countries based on GDP per capita, social support, expected life span, freedom, generosity, and perception of corruption, provide a stable picture. Northern European countries (Finland, Denmark, Iceland), Switzerland, and the Netherlands are consistently at the top. Their high scores are due to systemic factors: developed social protection, low levels of inequality, and trust in institutions. The impact of the New Year's period on these rankings is minimal as they aggregate data over several years. However, the holiday can serve as an indicator of the strength of these systems. For example, in countries with a high level of social capital, New Year's holidays often take the form of communal, non-commercial events (joint street celebrations, public dinners), which strengthen a sense of belonging. In contrast, in societies with a high level of individualism and consumerism, the pressure of the commercialized "ideal holiday" may, according to research, temporarily ... Read more