People get richer; countries get richer. Yet, happiness remains elusive.
Do we know anything?
If you want to pursue anything, or search for anything, you need to know what it is.
If you want a tiger, but keep chasing rabbits, you will end up disappointed.
So what are we looking for? What do we want to measure? Can we even measure it?
Money? Satisfaction?
All of us want to be happy. Or so we say. Sometimes, however, our actions suggest quite the opposite. So either we do not know what we are looking for, or we only pay lip service to the pursuit of happiness.
Quite often, we believe that becoming rich will automatically make us happy. So we make vigorous efforts to earn money, hoping that happiness will follow. We are disappointed when it does not.
Much has been written about the connection between money and happiness. There is some evidence that above an income level of $75,000 per year, money does not contribute significantly to happiness, or at least day-to-day feelings of joy. This is discussed further in a previous post: http://goo.gl/nhiLXp.
Satisfaction can be another issue. Nobody is ever satisfied with the amount of money they are earning, and most of us would like to earn more.
Happiness in the world
Human beings are keenly interested in money. So countries have long been ranked according to how rich they are, as broadly reflected by their Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, the realization soon emerged that the richest countries are not necessarily the happiest.
But how do you go about measuring happiness? It is tough enough in an individual, never mind a country. The first World Happiness Report of 2012 showed us the way, and the latest report is from 2015.
Gross National Happiness
The king of Bhutan coined this term in the 1970s to emphasize the importance of spiritual values and human emotions, and not just simply dollars and cents in evaluating the well-being of people and nations.
In 2011, the United Nations passed a resolution to make happiness a part of its agenda of global development.
The concept of Gross National Happiness stresses good governance, environmental awareness and conservation, cultural values, and sustainable development.
Mexico? Costa Rica?
The World Happiness report of 2015 lists Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, and Norway as being the top four happiest countries in the world, with Canada being the fifth.
Interestingly, Costa Rica is at number12, and Mexico at number 14, just above the United States at number 15. India is ranked number 117, out of a total of 158 countries listed.
What are the criteria?
Happiness and well-being are important markers of social progress. Public planners are increasingly focusing on these goals for the citizens of their respective countries.
Measuring these parameters objectively, and presenting data which cut across international differences is a challenge, which the authors of the World Happiness Report have been increasingly successful at meeting.
This report ranks 158 countries along a scale of happiest to least happy. The basis for the ranking is the quality of life of the people interviewed in those countries.
Six major factors
Three-quarters of the differences between these countries were felt to be the result of six factors: the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom, and corruption.
To prepare their report, investigators asked people to rate their lives on the whole using a numerical scale: 0 being the worst and 10 the best possible life.
GDP and life expectancy of the population obviously reflect the wealth of a nation, but the other factors mentioned above are indicators of autonomy, trust, and a sense of security. These are not necessarily related to wealth.
Rich country, happy country?
Not necessarily. The US was ranked eighth in GDP per capita (although it has the world’s largest GDP) and fifteenth in happiness. Canada has a GDP 20% lower than that of the US, but its happiness rank is higher at number five.
Social connections
People are growing richer in the US, on average, but their sense of social connection is going down, resulting in a lower ranking on the national happiness scale.
Trust
Fewer Americans now feel that they can trust other people. Nationally, 80% say that they can count on their neighbors. In some regions, this is much worse. Santa Monica in California recently combined data from surveys, social media, and administrative sources, and found that only half of their citizens felt they could depend on their neighbors.
So where does that leave us?
Right where common sense has always led us.
Money continues to be important, to allow people to keep body and soul together, and for countries to provide vital services to their citizens.
What we seem to have lost lately is a sense of perspective, of balance.
The mindless pursuit of wealth and sensory pleasures has had a numbing effect on individuals. We are losing a sense of purpose, of community.
Similarly, countries are neglecting investments in social capital, and chasing global power and hegemony.
Call to action
It is time for us to introspect.
Family, friends, spirituality, and community are essential for human beings to flourish. And when individuals flourish, so do countries.
Eating, sleeping, and reproduction are not unique to humans. Animals do much the same.
Let us seek and cherish traits that make us special. If we do that, we will not need to ask ourselves if we are happy. We will be too busy helping others.