Development and happiness II: “There is no plan B, because there is no planet B”

30 June 2015 16:40 ,

There is no plan B, because there is no planet B (Ban Ki-Moon)

Yesterday I offered some comments on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), saying that even the UN can learn something from inspiring quotes on the internet. Sometimes they are right: a goal without a plan is just a wish. Today I want to close the story, looking at Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s vision. And I’ll propose some alternative goals, based on happiness. What else did you expect?

 

Can Ban Ki-Moon help us?

Does the UN have a plan to achieve the goals? Some weeks ago I had the chance to listen to a speech by UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon in Brussels and find an answer for myself. The speech and the conference were dedicated to the contribution that young people can make in development and in the SDGs.

Ban is about as boring as a diplomat can get, but struck a cool tone at the conference.  He invited the audience to take selfies and  spoke very upbeat about the power of people, especially young people, to drive change. He urged youth to speak up in face of injustice, to make their voice heard, and make opinions clear at the voting booth and the supermarket counter.

He answered a question about the failure of achieving sanitation goals with a personal story about growing up without a proper toilet in South Korea. In the MDGs, enormous progress is being made on improving access to drinking water and sanitation. Still, 2.5 billion people don’t have access to improved sanitation facilities.

On climate change, he also had a good sound-bite to show his confidence that humans will do the right thing: “There is no plan B, because there is no planet B”. As a sound-bite it is great, but one has to hope it’s backed up by concrete action.

 

Are we really doing the right thing?

I wonder whether it is possible to find a better way to set goals and make our plans. Psychology and happiness research may offer some alternatives. The World Happiness Report finds that 75% of the differences in happiness levels between countries is explained by six factors. What if we would use these to shape our policies by six concrete goals instead?:

  • GDP per capita: reduction of absolute poverty and hunger. How? Set targets for the number of people who live from less than a dollar per day.
  • Social support: develop and nurture support mechanisms in families, wider social groups, and via social security. How? Set targets for the scope of social security and other mechanism.
  • Healthy life expectancy: continue investment in improved healthcare, water and sanitation. How? Set new targets for infant mortality, and maternal health, and access to water to sanitation.
  • Freedom to make life choices: work on gender balance and education. How? Set targets for access of women to education, work and decision-making, and targets for primary, secondary and tertiary education rates.
  • Generosity: cultivate generosity via volunteerism and civic life. How? Set targets for volunteering and democratic and social participation.
  • Perception of corruption (operationalisation of trust): develop a community where people trust each other. How? I’ll be honest: that’s too big of a question for me to answer.

 

Maybe by using happiness-based goals, we really can take a step in the good direction. Let me end with another quote, from World Happiness Report co-author Jeffrey Sachs:

“The aspiration of society is the flourishing of its members. [The World Happiness] Report gives evidence on how to achieve societal well-being. It’s not by money alone, but also by fairness, honesty, trust, and good health. [It] … will be useful to all countries as they pursue the new Sustainable Development Goals.”

mdg_graphic_600x464
Source: United Nations
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Development and happiness I: a goal without a plan is just a wish

29 June 2015 21:37 ,

A goal without a plan is just a wish (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

 goal-quote (1)

 

What is the best way forward for sustainable development?

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have contributed to making earth a better place to be. From 1990 to 2015, they have helped the international community focus its efforts to improve access to healthcare and sanitation, make progress on gender equality, and reduce extreme poverty and hunger.

But we are not there yet. Low levels of development erect enormous barriers to happiness, and must be lifted. A developed country more often than not is a happy one. It is not automatic though: money does not always buy happiness. The opposite appears to be truer: poverty tends to buy unhappiness.

 

After MDGs, SDGs

To be truly successful in building on the progress of the MDGs, the new development goals, or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should be a smart set of goals focused on the areas that make a real difference in people’s daily lives. It is sad to see that the SDGs succeeding the MDGs don’t guide us as well to reach higher levels of well-being as the previous set. Goals require focus.

The SDGs are too broad and lack the focus to reduce the barriers to a good life. As they are negotiated, the current set consists of 17 goals with a large number of sub goals. Whilst all of them are worth achieving, some are not specific enough to serve as a goal:

3.d strengthen the capacity of all countries, particularly developing countries, for early warning, risk reduction, and management of national and global health risks

How will the capacity be strengthened? By when?

Others seem to have little to do with real development. Everybody is in favour of sustainable tourism and creating jobs (buzzword!), but should that be the priority in the next 15 years?

8.9 by 2030 devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism which creates jobs, promotes local culture and products

Well-being is only referred once, in a horrible and vague formulation in diplomat speak that has all signs of being negotiated in multiple rounds. It doesn’t cover health, social support or personal development but… sustainable infrastructure. Here is the clause:

“develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and trans-border infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all.

 

Let’s pause there for a moment. Tomorrow I’ll continue with more questions: can Ban Ki-Moon help us to achieve concrete goals? And if we were to adopt goals based on happiness instead, what would they look like?

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Beyond GDP event: does happiness make good policy?

15 June 2015 14:07 ,

Can developing countries afford the money to develop happiness-based public policies?

Why is Saudi-Arabia a fairly happy country, despite low levels of personal freedom?

How is it possible that Sweden is one of the happiest countries of the world, but also a country with one of the highest suicide rates?

Are measures of happiness accurate? Shouldn’t weather and gastronomy be part of it, given their importance for happiness? 

This is just a snapshot of some of the great questions that I got fired on me from the audience at a conference on ‘Beyond GDP. Why Happiness Makes Goood Policy’. They provide plenty of material for future blog posts!

The event was organised by the Danish Embassy in Brussels and the Young Professionals and Foreign Policy (YPFP) in Brussels. Fortunately I wasn’t alone in answering them: I spoke alongside Marie Louise Dornoy of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen.

Happiness is all about statistics

Apart from challenging my arguments and thoughts about the topic, I felt that the questions also revealed a deep interest and understanding from the audience. Happiness is a universal topic, and everybody in the room seemed to reflect on the question what happiness means for themselves and for society they live in.

As in many events, people were curious whether happiness and well-being can really be used in public policy. I feel that progress has been made in the last ten years to strengthen the scientific base and to gathering of statistical evidence underlying well-being policies. Often this is up to academia and central statistical agencies. As I formulated it during the event, happiness is a lot about statistics.

Local governments ‘experiment’ with happiness policies

For the concrete policy initiatives, it is especially local and regional authorities that are discovering and experimenting in this area. The great thing is that field is expanding quickly and that in a couple of years, we will have a lot more knowledge than we have now.

I raised the example of the ‘Geluksbudget‘ (Happiness budget, see here in Dutch) used in some Dutch municipalities. With this budget, socially deprived people are granted a sum of money they can invest in an intervention to increase their happiness. Marie Louise mentioned various initiatives, such as ‘National Neighbours Day‘ in the Netherlands, and the ‘Mobile Mini Circus‘ in Afghanistan. The Happiness Research Institute has also started to collect examples from happiness-based policies and so far has gathered about one hundred examples.

 

Want to know more?

See some tweets below and my powerpoint presentation to get an impression of the event. 

Part of the conference was live-tweeted. For some of the coverage, see the accounts @YPFPBrussels and @DKinBelgium or the hashtag #YPFPBXL

 

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Can we replicate Denmark’s success story?

10 June 2015 08:34 ,

Last week I gave an anecdotal explanation to Denmark’s happiness. To complete the story, today I would like to ask what the Danes think themselves about their high levels of happiness, and whether it’s a success can be replicated elsewhere.

What do Danes think themselves?

If I believe what Meik and Marie Louise from the Happiness Research Institute say, I get the impression that Danes find the interest in their high happiness levels amusing and comical. Danes tend to point at what is not good in Denmark: mental health issues and depression, a complex relation with immigrants, a reputation of not being too outgoing. Part of the disbelief, says Meik, may have to do with the fact that ‘lykke’, the Danish word for ‘happy’, is a term for quite an extreme term. Jante’s Law in mind, it’s probably to say that things are not bad than that they are amazing.

Can we replicate Denmark’s success?

Whether it is through well-crafted policies or a lucky coincidence of getting many things right, Denmark as a state manages to achieve one of the highest levels of happiness. Is there anything in Denmark that can be replicated elsewhere? My feeling is there are three factors that can be easier taken at heart elsewhere:

  • Urban design. Certain factors in the design of a city are related with the happiness of its citizens. A city like Copenhagen is easy to navigate, has green spaces close-by in various neighbourhoods, and can be travelled by bike. This allows people to get around easily and to be active, and the example can be followed elsewhere. The term ‘Copenhagenize‘ has already been used to drive the use of bicycles into other cultures.
  • Work participation. I believe work-life balance (also cited in the Happy Danes report) is an important factor in Danes’ levels of happiness. Acceptance of flexitime and working from home, subsidised creches and generous maternity leave, a full year to be divided by the two parents) are helpful. This allows people to pursue a career and benefit from the overall positive impetus for happiness levels of work, whilst maintaining a meaningful relation with growing children.
  • Strive to take away barriers. Kristian mentioned he does not have to worry about healthcare or education. If such services are accessible for all, this can prevent worries resulting in unhappiness. In other countries, such as the US, the belief that it’s people’s own responsibility to reach success in life is a barrier in the pursuit of happiness. Without wanting to sound like a communist – if US politicians want to increase quality of life, raising taxes to decrease the cost of health and education may provide part of the answer.
Copenhagen is full of bikes. Photo by Kasper Thyge/Visit Copenhagen

The size and design of Copenhagen help people to get around by bikes, spending little time on work-home commutes and being active on the go. Such a policy can be replicated elsewhere. Photo by Kasper Thyge/Visit Copenhagen

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An anecdotal explanation to Danish happiness

1 June 2015 08:20 ,

Why is Denmark so happy? And most importantly: which of Denmark’s lessons can we replicate in other countries?

These were my main questions during a short study visit to Copenhagen that I undertook last week. Denmark routinely tops the rankings of happiest countries. In the 2015 World Happiness Report, it lost two places (going from 3 to 1), but it still the happiest country of the EU. And it is home to a dedicated think-tank on the issue: the Happiness Research Institute!

Another observation: Danish flags are everywhere

Another observation: Danish flags are everywhere. One day walking around in Copenahgen, we counted about 80 of them!

Let’s first share a couple of my findings and observations from three days in Copenhagen. And then, next week, I’ll provide my answer to the question whether Denmark’s secrets are unique to the land of the Dannebrog (the omnipresent flag) and Smorrebrod (Danish sandwiches served with fish, meat or potatoes), or whether they can be implemented elsewhere.

My findings

These findings are based on impressions and conversations with people over a couple of days. If you allow me, I’ll be a bit anecdotal today; I’ve discussed a more evidence-based list of factors identified in the Institute’s report on the Happy Danes before.

Opportunities to live the good life…

Our host Kristian identified two possible theories behind Denmark’s high happiness levels: firstly, Denmark offers plenty of opportunities to live a good life. At the cost of high taxes, the state takes many reasons to worry (and unhappiness) away: healthcare is free, and students cannot only attend university without any tuition fee, but also receive an allowance to do so.

At the same time, there does not seem to be a dominant path set out for you. It seems individuals have the possibility to choose their lifestyle quite freely. In Danish, there is no formal version of ‘you’, even the Prime Minister is a ‘you’. Compare this  to the difference between informal and formal in many languages, such as du and Sie in German, or titles like ‘Sir’ and ‘Dame’ in the UK social class system. Even the Danish royals seem to be down-to-earth: our tour guide’s repertoire includes an anecdote about petting the royal dog and entering a conversation with Crown Prince Frederik and princess Mary on the street.

… but low expectations?

The second theory Kristian cites is that low expectations about life can be a factor. As the expression has it, low expectations are key to a happy life. According to Danish-Dutch philosopher Stine Jensen’s, the so-called Law of Jante can explain the unpretentious mentality of the Danes. Half-ironic, half-serious the law of Jante drawn up by writer  Aksel Sandemose formulates ten rules Danes (and other Scandinavians) are required to live by. These include:

  • You’re not to think you are anything special.
  • You’re not to convince yourself that you are better than we are.
  • You’re not to think you can teach us anything.

Happiness is within easy reach

This attitude and the small scale of the Danish society, at some 5 million people, could possibly explain why Danes live well together in their community. In a sunny May weekend in Copenhagen I observed a vibrant social life. With many Danes, I spent my Saturday night on the Tivoli Lunapark, and on Sunday in amongst hipsters in the Papiroen Street food Mekka and amongst hippies in Christiania. At the same time, the sun didn’t only colour my face but also bias my view. On a grey and cold March days, when winter is in its seventh month, there’s little to be ecstatic about.

That’s it for today. Next week, I’ll get to two other questions: what do Danes think themselves about their high levels of happiness, and can their lessons be replicated their elsewhere?

IMG_2615

Sitting on a sunny terrace at the waterfront, happiness is within easy reach

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Event on Beyond GDP, 4 June in Brussels

25 May 2015 17:21 ,

Can human happiness be a basis for policy-making?

To hear my thoughts on this topic, join the event on “Beyond GDP – Why Happiness is Good Policy” on 4 June at 19.00 in Brussels. Find the details and the link to the registration form here.

The event is organised by the Danish Embassy in Brussels and the Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP). The main speaker is Marie Louise Dornoy, a researcher at the Danish Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen. The Institute is a think-tank dedicated to the study of happiness and well-being, as well as policies and interventions to increase them.

Full text of the invitation:

beyond gdp event

Picture by Camdiluv, Chile, taken from WIkipedia.

WHAT: Beyond GDP – Why Happiness is Good Policy
WHEN: Thursday, 4 June, 19.00 – 20.30
WHERE: Danish Church, Rue Washington 27, 1050 Brussels (Ixelles)
WHO:YPFP Members and friends. In the event of over-subscription, YPFP members will be given preference.

REGISTER: https://goo.gl/Gf88IH

Can human happiness be a basis for policy-making?

In the 1970s, Bhutan based its public policy on the concept of ‘Gross National Happiness’ (GNH). Instead of economic goals championed by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the aim of GNH is to contribute to public policies that directly affect the well-being of citizens.
Since the early 2000s, global discussions on ‘beyond GDP’ policies have sought to include happiness as an alternate criteria for policy-making.

On Bhutan’s initiative, the UN adopted a resolution recognising the human aspiration to happiness. The UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network reports on world happiness levels. The 2015 World Happiness Report ranks Switzerland, Iceland and Denmark as the three happiest countries in the world. But ‘beyond GDP’ policies are also questioned. Can governments legitimately decide what happiness is? Can public policy really increase well-being? Does a focus on happiness distract governments from more important policy objectives?

Join our discussion with:
– Marie Louise Dornoy, Research & Communications, The Happiness Research Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
– Jasper Bergink, Editor and Happiness Researcher, For a State of Happiness

Please note that you will be asked to provide ID details upon registration. Participants will need to provide photo ID to gain entry to the event.

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Social progress: a better way to measure a good society

18 May 2015 09:21 ,

For too long, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been the king of the indicators for public policy. Money makes the world go round. And GDP measures it. GDP emerged in the 1930s as a metric to measure the size of national accounts and inform policy makers’ decisions. Since, it has developed into a tool to benchmark countries’ performance: GDP growth is equated to progress.

GDP and beyond

Within the beyond GDP movement, many people have challenged this dominance, arguing that a good society is a lot more than economic performance. Social and environmental externalities are discounted in GDP. For instance, economists calculated that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill resulted in a higher GDP! And even GDP’s creator, economist Simon Kuznets, was aware of these limitations. When preparing the pile of statistic data for the US Congress in 1933, he noted that:

The welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income.

Since, many have challenged the dominance as a benchmark in the countries’ annual performance reviews. Most competing indices aim to rebalance GDP, by providing economic performance and add other data in areas as social matters, environment and education. This is the case for indicators like the Humanitarian Development Index (HDI), the OECD’s Better Life Index and Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness.

And further beyond… all economic data!

The Social Progress Index (SPI), however, has a different approach.

The SPI differentiates itself from other challengers to GDP by its unique conceptual choice to stay away from economic data. Instead, it measures social progress via 52 concrete outcomes assessing three key indicators to measure progress: basic human needs, ‘foundations of well-being’, and opportunity (see more in this eloquent TEDx talk).

These concepts are assessed via a series of questions asking about people’s experiences in many aspects that matter for quality of life: how many people have shelter and sufficient water? Do people live in a sustainable ecosystem? How many people experience discrimination? Survey data allow to compare such outcomes based on what people feel, rather than by measuring social issues via public expenditure or laws.

 

Source: data from Social Progress Imperative, available here.

Social progress does not equate happiness

The SPI does not measure happiness or aim to do so. Still, a glance at the wealth of data produced by the SPi suggest that their ranking broadly overlaps with the data from the World Happiness Report. All the top time countries are the same, but in a different order. Switzerland, Iceland and Denmark form the top-three in happiness; for social progress it’s Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

But there are some differences: especially Latin American countries seem to rank lower in the SPI. Countries like Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela and Panama benefit from a ‘Latin American happiness bonus and make it to the top-25 in happiness, but fall short of the top-25 in social progress. To the contrary, some highly developed countries (Germany, France, Japan, South Korea) combine lower levels of happiness with higher levels of social progress.

A different data set for policy makers 

The main use of SPI as a policy tool is that it is adds knowledge on progress without building on economic data. From that perspective, it may be surprising that there nevertheless is a solid correlation of 0.78 between GDP and SPI. But SPI allows policy makers to make assessment from a different angle. The main benefit is to identify areas where a country is shortcoming comparing to peers with similar GDP levels, and to strengthen the information base about interventions that can address lower performance.

In recent years, policy makers’ interest in beyond GDP indicators has steadily risen. The SPI is also benefitting from this. The European Commission has started talks to integrate the SPI to monitor regional policy outcomes. And in the US, where social progress and happiness are lagging behind economic strength, several local and state level politicians have started to integrate SPI information in their dashboard of monitored outcomes. For instance, the city of Somerville, Massachusetts, has started analysing tailored SPI analytics on the local level. And in the state of Michigan, social progress indicators are included in a set of key performance indicators.

Data for a good society

This is exactly what alternative indicators should do. GDP has a value. Economic data provide a useful understanding about people’s lives. But if you want to find out what a good society is, and whether you are on an upward or downward trend, there is a lot more to watch. The SPI provides a great contribution to help policymakers find out on which areas they should work to make their country progress.

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Happiness in the past, present and future

13 May 2015 08:24 ,

Robert Biswas-Diener is one of the most original thinkers on happiness I know. His work provides a smart counterweight to the ‘happiologist’ part of positive psychology. A happiness consultant himself, he observes that within the ‘happiness biz‘, there are a lot of people who appear to see happiness at work as the one and only goal.

Interestingly, Biswas-Diener does not agree. He points that when people are happy, they are likely to have a ‘good enough’ philosophy. Gratitude and acceptance form one aspect of happiness. But being grateful with what you have can also hinder self-improvement. Instead, Biswas-Diener believes in the ‘upside of your dark side’: negative emotions like guilt, grief and anger can drive our actions and help us grow.

This is a very helpful contribution to the discipline of positive psychology, which sometimes appears to believe that acceptance and gratitude can take away real problems. Being positive can help in dealing with problems, but cannot take them away. A positive mindset should inspire real actions to face difficulties.

Happiness is in the past..

Only last week I came across Biswas-Diener’s TED talk, with the tile ‘Your Happiest Days are Behind You’. In his talk, Biswas-Diener answers one of the fundamental questions:

How can I be happier?

The common tendency of individuals is to see happiness as something in the future. One of the main reasons why people are unhappy is that they project happiness on goals they haven’t achieved yet. And often, these goals are conflicting:

‘If only I met a nice girl’.

‘If only I had a child’.

‘If only I had that dream job at the Commission.’

‘If only I could work less, and have more holidays’

As Biswas-Diener formulates it: the future is an unreliable sources of happiness. How can we escape from our own expectations about the future? There are various ways out. One of them is by manufactured or ‘synthetic happiness‘, as psychologist Dan Gilbert says. What my answer is, I’ll say below. But first, let’s look at Biswas-Diener’s answer.

The past is the source of happiness…

In his very, very worthwhile talk, Biswas-Diener says that the past, not the future, is the source of happiness. The happiest days are behind you. And with a personal story that I absolutely recommend you to watch, he tells us why he so much believes in the past as a source of happiness. The gist is as follows: by remembering happy moments of the past, you will be able to recreate moments of happiness, and you will experience them again.

Have you watched the story? Can you imagine the race between Robert and the little girl in the slum of Calcutta? Great!

Robert states that memories like this race are the ones that are the answer to the question ‘how can I be happier’. And I agree that remembering happy experience is a very significant part of the answer. But I wonder how reliable the effect remains when one remembers the same memory more often. I would expect there is a somewhat limited life span, as the ‘happiness impact’ of these emotional moments may wear off when you tell or relive the story more regularly.

Compare it to a band playing their hit singles: initially it’s great to see the crowd cheer when they hear your top hit. But if concert after concert, day after day, all the audience wants to hear is the same songs, it doesn’t feel the same anymore. A diverse set of top hits (and happy moments!) thus is important.

… or is it the present?

Therefore, I’d argue that neither the future, nor the past are truly reliable sources of happiness. Instead, I would focus on… the present. Ultimately, our life is lived in the now, not in the future nor in the post. Our aim should be to spent our ‘nows’ – the moment that is easiest to control – in a way that makes us happy. We can go out on a day when the weather is nice. We can do sports, meet friends, or work on goals that are important for us. And by doing so, and appreciating the great moments along the way, we both work on a happy future and create a supply of happy memories that we can enjoy again.

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Smile!

7 May 2015 22:10 ,

The best thing about blogging about happiness, I’ve  already written before, is receiving articles and links related to the topic. All of these articles and videos are little gifts. Most of the time, they bring some interesting facts or news – or they bring a smile to my face. There are many serious things to write about happiness. A nice feel good video often can transmit what happiness is in a better way.

Like the Smile Man short film below, which I received from Julia.

Imagine you are always smiling. That is what happens to the main character in the film, due to paralysis of your face muscles.  Smiling always, it turns out,is not easy. I tried for a couple of minutes, but gave up. It feels funny in a way, but it simply hurts my face.

In the film, similarly, artificial and constant smiling results in a series of practical problems. But it also brings about a personal connection and the realisation that the power of a genuine smile is enormous.

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The World Happiness Report 2015: a wealth of data to make the world a happier place

29 April 2015 21:22 ,

The World Happiness Report 2015 is out and struck some headlines last week. Number one this year is Switzerland, and Togo comes last. But beyond praising winners and shaming losers, there is a lot more of interested figures to find. A quick selection of some of them.

The good news: how happy are we?

  • Let’s start with the good news. Of 130 countries where it was possible to compare data from 2012-2014 with 2005-2007, 53 saw significant improvements in happiness levels (41 decreased and 36 had no meaningful change). This suggests the world is a slightly happier place then it used to be.
  • The biggest improvements were made in Nicaragua, Zimbabwe, Ecuador, Moldova and Sierra Leone, who each added around one full point in their score.
  • It’s the well-expected developing countries that fill the top-1o: Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Canada, Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia, all a solid 7.3 or higher
  • … and what’s the score of the number one, Switzerland? With three decimals to be Swiss and precise, we get to 7.587.

Other good news (but not in stats)!

  • The most important sections maybe are not those listing the countries, but providing case studies of cities and regions who have changed their policies to make use of all the knowledge about happiness, from Dubai to Jalisco (Mexico), and from Santa Monica to Bristol.
  • At the same time, progress is also made in the neuroscience of happiness. A dedicated chapter 5 summarizes some of the findings. For instance, evidence about the link between positive emotions and happiness appears to be stronger and stronger.
  • There is more and more understanding about the various distribution patterns of happiness within age groups and genders. Overall, women are slightly happier than men. Over age groups, the patterns differ per region: in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and South Asia, happiness goes down as age progresses. But in East Asia, but also in Western Europe, the best comes last: happiness levels go up as people enter their 70s.

The bad news: how unhappy are we?

  • There is still a lot, a lot of misery on our planet. More than fifty countries have happiness levels below 5.
  • And the worst-performing are truly miserable. Countries like Syria and Afghanistan, but also Rwanda, Benin and Burundi fall under 3.6 The lowest level is found in Togo at 2.839.
  • Two countries on different sides of the Mediterranean – Egypt and Greece – have lost more than one point. And some others (Jordan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, and Italy) lost around three quarters of a point.
  • For instance, the case of Italy (-.764, now at 5.948) is worrying. Usually, a high happiness level means a high level of resilience in phase of challenge. This fabric might be unraveled as result of the crisis Italy is going through.
  • To end with a positive note: he best ‘losers’, as far as one could be a loser with a score of 7.527, are the Danes. Denmark typically ranks one in most of the happiness report. I have been told that usually, it is no news when a happiness ranking is published, but this time it was: apparently, Danes are not used anymore to come second (or third, as now).

And now?

The 2015 World Happiness Report comes out with a large ambition: influencing the next development goals. As the UN prepares to adopt Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) this year, the hope is that happiness outcomes are targeted within the SDGs. A worthwhile ambition: ultimately increasing human happiness and its fair distribution should be the goal of public policy.

One concern: the SDG process appears to be very complex, with over 150 different – and often, vague – ideas currently on the list of goals that could be adopted later this year. In such a process, they risk to lose their meaning. But either way, the wealth of statistics provides a lot of inspiration and background data to policy makers to make the world a happier place.

Geography of happiness

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