Our surroundings play a huge role in how we are raised. What values we take on and what opinions we share are often heavily determined by where we are born. Of course, later in our lives education and relationships take on importance, but even then we can’t shake off the initial influences that may have colored our personalities.
I don’t like to generalize about people and categorize them according to their place of birth, but it is hard to put aside the influence of culture. What is important in the USA might be completely irrelevant in Sweden and vice versa. In the past, religion often dictated values in most societies, but as we progressed as a species, we have learned to think for ourselves and created our own set of beliefs.
Today`s people have different priorities, as clearly shown in this infographic. Education, happiness (we wrote about the science behind it here), housing, income, life satisfaction, health, environment, etc. have become the number one priority in many countries.
Additionally, in almost every part of the world, traditional values like religion and marriage have a lesser influence. Find your country in this infographic and see if you share the same values as the rest of your countrymen.