World Happiness Report

Manifest Pedagogy

Happiness and income have often been compared in answering wether growth is more important or development. Development indicators are important with respect to the report titles, organisation behind them, Their relevance and indicators and lastly, what it particularly talks about with reference to India.

In news

India ranked 140th in World Happiness

Placing it in the syllabus

Development indicators

Static dimensions

Gross National Happiness Index
Measures of Happiness (philosophy of Happiness)

Current dimensions

Raising work stress in India(work stress and Family stress)
Recent rankings and parameters

Content

Gross National Happiness Index

In 1970s, the fourth Bhutan king first coined the phrase Gross National Happiness and declared that “Gross National Index is more important than Gross Domestic Product”. This implies that sustainable development should take a holistic approach towards notions of progress and give importance to non-economic aspects of well-being.

The Gross National Happiness Index is a single number index based on 33 indicators classified under nine domains. The GNH Index is built on a robust multidimensional methodology called the Alkire – Foster method. Four pillars of GNH include:

Good governance;
Sustainable socio-economic development.
Cultural preservation, and
Environmental conservation.

The above 4 pillars were later classified into the nine domains, they are: psychological well being, health, education, time use, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards.

Measuring of Happiness (Philosophy of Happiness)

Happiness philosophy is the philosophical concern about ‘existence, nature, and attainment of happiness’. Philosophers believe that happiness can be understood as the moral goal of life or as an aspect of chance ; indeed, happiness is synonymous with luck in most European languages.

Therefore, philosophers usually explain happiness as either a state of mind or a life that is good for the person who leads it.

Raising stress in India (Family and work related)

Stress levels among employed Indians are rising due to growing job uncertainty in a highly disruptive environment and increased personal anxiety.

Increasing stress, in turn, has resulted in an increase in the number of people who have depression and are at high risk of suicide. Employers therefore face a growing challenge to deal with workers who are not only personally depressed but can also adversely affect their organizations ‘ productivity.

Common sources of stress are:

Work
Money
Family
Parenting
Social isolation, etc

While India’s GDP has doubled in the last decade, its average happiness has gone down by about 1.2 points, according to the World Happiness Report Happiness Index.

Recent rankings and parameters of World Happiness Index

It is released by: The Sustainable Development Solutions Network

Key highlights

Finland is the happiest country followed by Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, Switzerland, Iceland, New Zealand, Austria and Canada.
India’s rank dropped from 133rd in 2018 to 140th in 2019, according to the Happiness Index, although there was no recession or huge national calamity. But the happiest countries in the world are also high-income countries.
Of the 125 countries for which there are good data, 43 have seen GDP per person and happiness moving in the opposite direction, according to the report.
Even the report admits that negative emotions have increased in all countries, including worry, anger, and sadness.
It is also mentions, even with higher incomes than before, people remain unhappy due to factors such as rapid urbanization and urban congestion, pollution of the environment and traffic problems.

Parameters

World Happiness Report 2019 use data that come from the Gallup World Poll. it is measured with six factors(parameters), they are: