THE RELEVANCE OF WORLD HAPPINESS INDEX

By Ruma Dubey

Mutual trust.  Willingness to pay taxes. Less prone to corruption. Extensive social safety nets.  Tight knit local communities.

These traits seem like something right out of Utopia, a paradise which does not exist. At least that is how we, living in various degrees of dystopia perceive.

But these traits are very much there, practiced subconsciously by people. No wonder, they find a place as residents of some of the happiest countries in the world.

The 2015 Happiness Index is out and there are no surprises – like all other ‘goodness’ lists,  this one too is dominated by the Scandinavian countires.   This Index is extremely important is todays troubled times as our pursuit of happiness is leading us nowhere . Thus it is very pertinent to understand what this report is trying to say – it is a reflection of the state of happiness in the world today and shows how the new science of happiness explains personal and national variations in happiness. The Index reflects a new worldwide demand for more attention to happiness as a criteria for government policy. The Index is also a tight slap on the face of policy makers, who think that pursuit of a healthy GDP number alone is sufficient to mark the happiness of a nation.  If that was the case, then why it is that USA, which is the largest economy in the world, figures out only number 15 in the Index and China is on No.84 – which is much lower than even Kazakhastna, Aleria, Slovenia, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Bhutan and even Pakistan.  India is at a sad 117, much lower than Bangladesh, Tunisia, Iran, Palestine.

Not surprisingly, number one on the Happiness Index is Switzerland, followed by Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Canada, Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia. Surprisingly, Israel is at number 11 and Costa Rica at number 12. Mexico at number 14 is one notch ahead of USA.

Once again, not surprisingly, right at the bottom are Afghanistan, Rwanda, Benin, Syria, Burundi and Togo.

The Happiness Index has used eight dimensions as a measure of happiness –

1. GDP Per capita (Purchasing Power Parity)
2. Social support (If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you whenever you need them, or not?)
3. Healthy life expectancy at birth (that is self-explanatory)
4. Freedom to make life choices (Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?)
5. Generosity (Have you donated money to a charity in the past month?)
6. Perceptions of corruption (Is corruption widespread throughout the government or not? and Is corruption widespread within businesses or not?)
7. Positive affect (average of laughter and enjoyment for other waves where the happiness question was not asked)
8. Negative affect (average of previous-day affect measures for worry, sadness and anger)

The report also goes on show how the global recession affected national happiness. Greece, Italy and Spain, the worst affected, climbed down the most. But at the same time, Iceland, which was on the verge on bankruptcy, is number two on the index. How does one explain that?  Countries with sufficiently high quality social capital appear to be able to sustain or even improve subjective well-being in the face of natural disasters or economic shocks, as the shocks provide them an opportunity to discover, use and build upon their communal links. In other cases, the economic crisis triggered drops in happiness greater than could be explained by falling incomes and higher unemployment.  Iceland, scored the highest when asked the question, “If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you whenever you need them, or not?” Maximum answered “yes” and that showed a very strong support system.

Thus the Index goes on to show us that happiness is all about perception, living in a tight-knit community, with a feeling that the Government is just and will take care of us. There is really no measure of economic might. No doubt, the top 10 on the list are all well-to-do developed nations but they are not the richest, right? So having money alone does not mean infinite happiness.

The Index drives home an age-old wisdom – money cannot buy you happiness. It is the social fabric which needs to be woven tight, delicately but at the same time, very strong.

Just as for an individual, happiness does not come from a good job, higher education, wealth, marriage, children; it comes from a strong inner self, with the ability to confront and conquer one’s own weaknesses. Ditto for a nation – we need to get stronger from within, pursuing GDP alone is like chasing a butterfly.

PS: Modiji, you have put in place a National Air Quality Index. Why not a National Happiness Index? Yes, we will fare poorly on both but at least lets know how bad and how to get better?

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