Learn more about Happiness Index and how it is Measured?

• 24 April 2020 | 1037 Views | By Mansi Jain

Do you know countries are ranked each year based on the happiness index? Isn’t it fascinating! Let us begin with a simple yet important question “What does Happiness Index Mean?”

Happiness Index is a comprehensive survey instrument that assesses happiness, well-being, and aspects of sustainability and resilience of a country. It is an index of happiness based on a survey which was first created by a group of independent happiness specialists known as Global Happiness Council. This group of people releases a World Happiness Report every year. Since 2012, it is annually published by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network based on various factors and people’s response to their own lives. 

Who created/introduced the happiness index?

Are you now wondering, how the idea of measuring the world’s happiness was first coined? This concept was first coined in the year 1979 during an interview of the then King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck who said “We do not believe in Gross National Product. Gross National Happiness is very important.” According to the government of Bhutan a nation should give equal importance to non-economic well-being also for sustainable development in the notions of progress. 

GNH consists of four pillars: good governance, sustainable socio-economic development, cultural preservation and environmental conservation. These pillars are further categorized into nine domains i.e., psychological well being, health, education, time use, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and living standards.  

How is the Happiness Index measured?

According to the researchers of the World Happiness Report, the Happiness Index is affected by the following factors. 

1. Gross Domestic Product

The first factor is the Gross domestic Product or GDP. It is a sum of the market values of all the final goods and services produced in a specific time period. GDP is one of the indicators of national development and progress and indicates a higher scale of income for people. This leads to a higher level of happiness. Although money can buy happiness but up to a certain level.  

2. Social Support

The second factor is social support. To measure the social support a survey is conducted over a sample population and people are asked whether they can count on their friends and neighbors during the time of crisis. Average of all the answers represents the total amount of social support in the country.

3. Health Life Expectancy

The third factor is the health life expectancy which is based on the calculation made by the World Health Organization or WHO. A country that has healthy and physically fit people is also considered a happier country. 

4. Freedom to Make Choices

Another key factor that is considered for measuring the happiness index is Freedom to make life choices. Again, the criteria to determine is through a survey on the sample population. 

5. Generosity

Another very important factor which is a determining factor for happiness index is generosity. Although helping others in kind is not the only way generosity works, helping a stranger in a small way can be considered an act of good deed. Also sharing and caring for each other makes the world a happier place. 

6. Corruption

Corruption can also be considered as a factor for a measure of happiness, as most people believe that they live in a world with widespread corruption. However, this factor is not given much importance for measuring the happiness of a nation.

Measuring the Happiness

Apart from the above factors there are methodologies that are used by the Global Happiness Council to estimate the Happiness index. One of the theories on which the rankings for Happiness is based on the Cantril Ladder Survey. In this survey the sample population is asked to rank their current lives on a scale of 0 -10, 0 being the worst possible life and 10 being the best possible life for them. The result of the report is then compared with other life factors.

One more theory is based on factors such as Business and economics, citizen engagement, communication and technology, social diversity, education and family, individual well-being, environment and energy, food and shelter, government and politics, law and order, health, religion and ethics, transportation and work culture. The average of all the factors is taken into consideration to calculate the happiness index. This is known as Gallup World Poll. Around 1000 citizens of a country are interviewed each year who are randomly selected and are 15 years of age or older. 

What is India’s Happiness Index?

According to the latest World happiness report of 2020, Finland is the happiest country in the world followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and The Netherlands. According to the report India stands at 144 out of 156 countries as of March 2020 which is eleven spots down as compared to the Happiness report of 2018. As per the report India’s happiness score stands at 3.573 points whereas an average world happiness score is 6.5 points.  

There are several reasons for such a low ranking which includes poverty and inequality prevailing in India. As the Indian economy is going through a recessionary phase, India is ranked 108 out of 118 countries by the Global Hunger Index which is a matter of concern. The unequal distribution of wealth is also one of the reasons as the 73% of the total wealth produced in the country is cornered by 1% of the population. 

As we have already discussed that one of the factors used to measure the happiness index is Health whether be physical or mental well-being, the Government spends just about 1.4% of GDP on Public health which is way below the global average. Due to this our population which mostly consists of poor and deprived is dependent on not at par healthcare facilities. 

Apart from the above factors one more factor is that India has poor ranking in the latest Global Corruption Perspective Index. Corruption and fraudulent practices are still in operation which can be explained in the form of various examples such as Nirav Modi’s case. Also, the government and political establishments are not able to function in an effective way. 

The Happiness Index is now considered as one of the major sources to measure the growth of a country. This is because in the current world scenario if we need to develop as a nation we need to grow not only quantitatively but also qualitatively. If the people of a country are happy with the government and policies it automatically leads to a happy and developing country.