Happiness

Happiness is the quality or state of being happy, of wellbeing without distress. Exact definitions of happiness vary; for example, some contend that it is possible to think you are happy, but not in fact be happy. Happiness is essential to living a good life, and being fulfilled or complete.

• Sun Myung Moon said, "God gives happiness to those who can give it to others. In spite of their sincerity, religious people so far have wanted to receive it only for themselves, thus not giving it to others." [1]

In the United States, the right of all citizens to "the pursuit of happiness" is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.

In Bhutan, royal government makes a statement of Gross National Happiness, which is important to both our King and our Bhutanese people.

Happiness and labor productivity

See also: Labor productivity

World Happiness Index map of 2023

According to the World Happiness Index website:

“

World Happiness Report 2023 use data from the Gallup World Poll surveys from 2020 to 2022. They are based on answers to the main life evaluation question asked in the poll. This is called the Cantril ladder: it asks respondents to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for them being a 10 and the worst possible life being a 0. They are then asked to rate their own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale. The rankings are from nationally representative samples for the years 2020-2022. The number of people and countries surveyed varies year to year, but by and large more than 100,000 people in 130 countries participate in the Gallup World Poll each year. They are based entirely on the survey scores, using the Gallup weights to make the estimates representative. The sub-bars in the alternate version of Figure 2.1 show the estimated extent to which each of the six factors (levels of GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom, and corruption) is estimated to contribute to making life evaluations higher in each country than in Dystopia. Dystopia is a hypothetical country with values equal to the world’s lowest national averages for each of the six factors (see FAQs: What is Dystopia?). The sub-bars have no impact on the total score reported for each country but are just a way of explaining the implications of the model estimated in Table 2.1. People often ask why some countries rank higher than others—the sub-bars (including the residuals, which show what is not explained) attempt to answer that question.

”

Map: World Happines Index of 2023

See also

• Atheism and happiness