If someone asks you today if you are happy, your answer may be different tomorrow. Happiness changes as events occur, but in 2012, three economists, John Helliwell, Richard Layard, and Jeffrey Sachs, believed they could measure it.
They created the World Happiness Report, which measures six different topics that explain happiness around the world.
Here are the categories:
GDP per capita: how wealthy a country is divided by the number of people living there
Social support: satisfaction with friends and family, feeling loved.
Healthy life expectancy: energy level and ability to perform everyday activities.
Corruption Perception: If corruption widespread throughout the government or within businesses.
Generosity: willingness to do charity work or help others.
Freedom: autonomy to make life choices.
But, where can we find happiness?
Money can't buy everything: despite being one of the countries with the highest GDP per capita in the world, the United States is not even in the top 20 of the world's happiest countries.
Here's the comparison between GDP per capita and happiness:
The economist Tomas Rau, Research Fellow of the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, explains that " People tend to feel unhappy when their wealth decreases from previously higher levels, leading to discomfort even among previously content people. However, the most significant distress will be experienced by those struggling, particularly the middle-class and low-income people. Basic needs are essential for happiness, and when these needs are unmet, individuals become unhappy. That doesn't mean a society with more money will be happier because more factors affect well-being and happiness than acquisitive power."
In this part of the questionnaire, people were asked: “If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you could count on to help you whenever you need them, or not?”
This are the countries with the lowest social support on the World Happiness Report:
Finland has been declared the happiest country in the world for six consecutive years in the World Happiness Report. How do they manage to be so happy? Thanks to perseverance. "We Finns tend to be very humble and moderate and we have learned to be content with little." says Miia Huitti, Sustainable Happiness Coach and founder of The Finnish Happiness Institute .
"To us happiness often means having a peace of mind, being content and grateful for what we have. And for example cultivating gratitude in everyday life contributes to our wellbeing". Something must be working, because for seven years Finland has been choosen the most happy country in the World Happiness Report. "Finland has chosen the strategy of a wellbeing nation and we are proud of what we have created over the decades. On many areas of life (work, education etc) we strive after increasing people's wellbeing.", says the Sustainable Happiness Coach.
"Freedom" is the category that counts the average of the responses to the question “Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?"
This are the countries with the highest freedom to make life choices:
Psychologist Carolina Mora explains that long-term decisions, such as where to live, what career to study, and with whom to have a romantic relationship, determine happiness without us realizing it daily. "You can win a prize, but the happiness that money brings can be momentary if you don't have other areas of your life covered, such as affective relationships of trust and respect or living in a place that makes you feel at peace. You have to cultivate that happiness to develop over time."