Measurements of happiness by rvp kumar n baba for happy life

1. Presentation by
Ranvijay
S K Verma
M Gopal

2. HAPPINESS IS ONE THING OR MANY?
 One simple thing:
 Just pleasure
 One complex thing:
 Informed,
 authentic,
 and morally
 based positive feelings
 A list of things:
 Happiness, friendship and truth

3. TYPES OF HAPPINESS
3 Types of
Happiness
Examples Causes
Life
Satisfaction
• I think my life is great
• I am satisfied with my job
• A good income
• Achieving one’s goals
• High self-esteem
Positive
Feelings
• Enjoying life
•Loving others
• Supportive friends
• Interesting work
• Extroverted personality
Low Negative
Feelings
• Few chronic worries
• Rarely sad or angry
• Low neuroticism
• One’s goals are in
harmony
• A positive outlook

4. HAPPINESS:
The Science of Subjective Well-Being
 SWB is the scientific term for happiness
and life satisfaction
 Happiness is the most important goals
for people rather than wealth, fame or
success.
 High SWB is not just a pleasant
outcome but is an important factor in
future success

5. WORLD HAPPINESS REPORT- 2018
(UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network)
• The 10 top countries are small or medium-sized
western industrial countries, - seven are in
Western Europe.
• In the top 10 countries, life evaluations average
7.4 on the 0 to 10 scale, while for the bottom 10
the average is less than 3.4.
• “Cantril Ladder” method is used to measure the
happiness and well-being

6. Two Common Measures of
Happiness
 GDP per capita
 Healthy Life Expectancy
Other Key Variables
Key variables that contribute to overall
well-being
 Social Support
 Freedom
 Trust (Absence of corruption)
 Generosity

7. WORLD HAPPINESS REPORT- 2018
• The Report ranks 156 countries by their
happiness levels, and 117 countries by the
happiness of their immigrants
Ranks
• Finland is the happiest country in the world,
Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland are
in next to it

8. WORLD HAPPINESS REPORT- 2018
Over
all
Rank
Country Score
GDP
per
capita
Social
support
Healthy life
expectancy
Freedom to
make life
choices
Generosity
Perceptions
of corruption
1 FINLAND 7.632 1.305 1.592 0.874 0.681 0.192 7.632
2 NORWAY 7.594 1.456 1.582 0.861 0.686 0.286 7.594
54 JAPAN 5.915 1.294 1.462 0.988 0.553 0.079 5.915
133 INDIA 4.190 0.721 0.747 0.485 0.539 0.172 0.093
155
CENTRAL
AFRICAN
REPUBLIC
3.083 0.024 0.000 0.010 0.305 0.218 3.083
156 BURUNDI 2.905 0.091 0.627 0.145 0.065 0.149 2.905

9. WORLD HAPPINESS REPORT- 2018
Map showing happiness of countries

10. World Happiness Index 2018
Over
all
Rank
Country Score
GDP per
capita
Social
support
Healthy life
expectancy
Freedom to
make life
choices
Generosity
Perceptions
of corruption
133 INDIA 4.190 0.721 0.747 0.485 0.539 0.172 0.093
101 NEPAL 4.880 0.425 1.228 0.539 0.526 0.302 0.078
75 PAKISTAN 5.472 0.652 0.810 0.424 0.334 0.216 0.113
97 BHUTAN 5.082 0.796 1.335 0.527 0.541 0.364 0.171
115 BANGLADESH 4.500 0.532 0.850 0.579 0.580 0.153 0.144
116 SRILANKA 4.471 0.918 1.314 0.672 0.585 0.307 0.050
145 AFGHANISTAN 3.632 0.332 0.537 0.255 0.085 0.191 0.036
SAARC NATIONS

11. World Happiness Index 2018
BRICS NATIONS- India happiness index Comparison
with other emerging national economies
Over
all
Rank
Country Score
GDP
per
capita
Social
support
Healthy life
expectancy
Freedom to
make life
choices
Generosity
Perceptions
of corruption
133 INDIA 4.190 0.721 0.747 0.485 0.539 0.172 0.093
86 CHINA 5.246 0.989 1.142 0.799 0.597 0.029 0.103
28 BRAZIL 6.419 0.986 1.474 0.675 0.493 0.110 0.088
59 RUSSIA 5.810 1.151 1.479 0.599 0.399 0.065 0.025
105
SOUTH
AFRICA
4.724 0.940 1.410 0.330 0.516 0.103 0.056

12. GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS
• Bhutan adopted Gross National Happiness instead of
Gross Domestic Product as their main development
indicator
• GNH is a holistic and sustainable approach to
development
• Balance between material and non-material values for
happiness
• OECD: Work of Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen highlight
limits of ‘Gross National Income’ and search for
alternatives.
Kingdom of Bhutan

13. THE FOUR PILLARS OF GNH

14. NINE DOMAINS OF GNH

15. THE BENEFITS ASSOCIATED WITH
MEASUREMENT OF HAPPINESS
Hapiness promotes positive outcomes
Organizations:
higher productivity
customer satisfaction
organizational citizenship
Individuals:
Income
Relationships
health
Government:
Public spending on welfare and NHS

16. MEASURABLE QUALITIES OF HAPPINESS
 Economic Indicators: income, unemployment,
inflation, poverty, inequality, home ownership,
job growth, etc
 Mental Health: depression, stress, suicide,
autism etc.
 Physical Health:
cancer, heart diseases, obesity etc
 Quality of Life:
best cities, services, jobs, environment

17. PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH
MEASUREMENT OF HAPPINESS
 THREE PROBLEMATIC ASPECTS OF HAPPINESS
1. Definition
 Happiness is a vague and complex concept
 Clearly and precisely defining the term is a challenge
for researchers and policymakers, because individuals
have unique ideas of what happiness means to them.
 Philosophers have argued about happiness for
thousands of years and there is still no single,
canonical understanding of the concept.

18. 2. Measurement
 Even if researchers could define happiness, it is a
qualitative concept that cannot be quantified or
measured with confidence.
 For example, if happiness were measured on a scale of
zero to ten, would zero mean the absence of happiness
or profound unhappiness?
 How can policymakers be sure that two people who
both rate their happiness as a four are equally happy, or
less happy than another person who reports a
happiness level of five?
 Such questions confound measurement of happiness
because quantifying what is a subjective opinion.
 one which may depend on socioeconomic status or
culture, not to mention mood or other psychological
factors—is an ambiguous and uncertain process.
PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH
MEASUREMENT OF HAPPINESS

19. 3. Policy Implementation
 even if policymakers could define and measure
happiness, the implementation of policy choices
based on this data would be fraught with problems.
 For example, would society wish to maximize total
happiness or equalize it among individuals?
 Answering this question may lead to greater
happiness for some but less for others, or to
undesirable outcomes such as merely increasing
the appearance of or attitude or circumstances of
their lives toward happiness
 For these reasons, researchers and policymakers
should proceed with caution when using such
measures.
PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH
MEASUREMENT OF HAPPINESS

20. RELEVANCE FOR INDIA
The happiness index provides valuable
insights regarding the problems Indian
society is facing.
The glaring loopholes in the development
agenda need a serious look.
Some of them are economic disparity,
poor educational infrastructure, women’s
safety and mental healthcare in India.

21. PEOPLE LIVING IN MORE EQUAL
SOCIETIES ARE HAPPIER
Glaring disparity in the purchasing power
of the population has long haunted India,
where still nearly one-fourth of the
population is lives below the poverty line.
While economics are not the only
indicator of happiness – it is almost a
necessary factor and it demands greater
equity in India.

22. SHORTFALL IN PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE
FOR EDUCATION
Opportunities for development and acquiring
knowledge and skills for gainful employment
is at the heart of happiness.
Access to education beyond higher
secondary schooling is a restricted to a mere
10 per cent among the university-age
population in India.
Social perception of success and pressure to
be a certain way, keeps a majority of young
individuals from reaching a place of
satisfaction and stability.

23. SAFETY AND SECURITY OF WOMEN
According to National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB) data, crime against
women grew by 34 per cent between
2012-15. All of this generates a public
perception that women’s safety has not
improved since the outrage following the
Nirbhaya case in 2012.

24. MENTAL HEALTH
 Mental health care continues to be grossly
underfunded.) The government spends 0.06 per
cent of its total health spending on mental care,
according to the World Health Organization’s
Mental Health Atlas of 2011.
 According to conservative estimates of the
Indian health ministry, about 6-7 per cent of
Indians (more than 70 million) suffer from mental
health problems.
 Yet, the psychiatrist to population ratio currently
remains a grossly inadequate one of 1
psychiatrist per 2-3 Lakh people.

25. REASONS FOR FAILURE OF USING
HAPPINESS TO GUIDE POLICY MAKING
 The term happiness covers many different concepts
and means something different to different people
 Difficult for researches & policy makers to define and
measure happiness in a way that generates
meaningful data that can be used to guide policy
 Implementation leads to undesirable or contradictory
outcomes with existing problems in society

26. The Problems with Measuring and Using
Happiness for Policy Purposes
• Problems with defining, measuring, and implementing
happiness on a national scale indicate that policymakers
and economists may need a better solution for replacing
GDP as a primary measurement of economic growth.
• The conceptual problems suggest that the government
should not be trying to influence happiness directly at all.
• The policy makers should focus on structuring
institutions to allow people the greatest amount of
personal choice to pursue their own goals and interests
instead of targeting economic output and well being.